Steven Universe: Blue Carnelian AU
by Halo20601 AKA MasterCheifMan
Summary: I had a thought for an AU where Blue Pearl and Carnelian are Crystal Gems instead of our Pearl and Amethyst. I've made some art pieces for my AU, but here's my attempt at making a FanFic for it. I hope you all enjoy. (Rating changed to T.)
1. Chapter 1: Gem Glow

Steven walks home from the Big Donut, happily humming to himself, eager to see his family; the Crystal Gems. The boy walks up to his house and opens the door to greet the Gems. "Hey, guys!" Suddenly a small, blue centipede-like creature jumps out, startling Steven, "AH!"

Then a whip with blue electricity surrounding it wraps around the insect creature and yanks it towards the user; Carnelian. "Sup, Steven?" The scarlet Gem grunts holding the creature in place.

"What are these things?" A surprised Steven asks the gems fighting the creatures.

Another centipede jumps in front of Steven, only to for Blue Pearl to cut it down with her swords. "Ugh! Sorry, Steven, we will get these Centipeetles out of your room. We think they were trying to get into the temple."

"Aw. You don't have to get rid of them, they're really cool." Steven says with enthusiasm, only to regret it when a Centipeetle that Blue is holding off spits out a shard of ice barely missing his feet.

Carnelian electrocutes the Centipeetle she had entangled in her whip, poofing it. "Um, guys we got a problem. These things don't have gems."

"That means there just spawns; the real one is somewhere nearby," Garnet states poofing a Centipeetle with gauntlets. "We should probably find it before someone gets hurt."

"Oh! Can I come?" Steven says excitedly, willing to prove himself.

"Sorry Steven, until you learn to control the powers in your gem, we'll take care of protecting humanity, okay?" Blue responds as she continues to poof several more Centipeetles with her blades.

"Aw, man." Steven says disappointed, but then notices a group of Centipeetle raiding the fridge "Hey! Get out of there! Go on! Shoo! Shoo! They got into everything!"

Garnet quickly smashed the Centipeeltes with her gauntlets, poofing them. "Well, that's the last of them, and the third time this month," Garnet states. "No matter how many times we push them back, they just keep coming, and in greater numbers."

"We may have something they're looking for, whatever that is." Blue quietly suggests.

"Maybe they're hungry; they did try to raid our fridge after all," Carnelian says lightheartedly. "Speaking of the fridge, we've got a surprise for you, Steven."

Garnet opens the freezer, revealing it is full of Cookie Cat Ice Cream Sandwiches. "No way, it can't be! Where did you get these? I thought they stopped making them!" Steven shouts with enjoyment.

Carnelian places her elbow on Stevens' shoulder. "Well, we heard that, too, and since they're your favorite, we went out and stole a bunch," Carnelian says jokingly.

"No, we didn't, we paid for them," Blue reassured. Carnelian frowns at the Pearl for taking the fun out of her joke.

"I can't believe you did this. Thank you so much!" Steven says happily.

"Help yourself to one man." Carnelian insists.

Steven takes one of the treats, unwraps it and bites into it, savoring the taste. "Mm," Suddenly, Stevens gem begins to glow.

Blue brushes the hair in front of her eyes aside, to get a clear view of what is happening, "Steven... your gem, it's…"

Steven looks down at his Gem. "My Gem, it's… it's glowing!" Steven shouts enthusiastically.

"Quick, try to summon your weapon!" Carnelian says supporting.

Steven's enthusiasm turns to disappointment when he realizes, "I don't know how!" Steven looks down at his gems seeing the glow fading away. "Ah, it's fading! How do I make it come back?" Steven panics.

Blue kneels in front of the young Gem and places her hands on his shoulders. "Calm down Steven. Just breathe, don't force it." Blue suggests in a calm, motherly tone.

The glow fades. "Ah, I was really close that time!" Steven sighs. "Can you guys help me out?"

"Of course, we'll help you, our little guardian in training," Blue says playfully messing up Steven's hair, making him chuckle a bit.

"You two go on ahead, Carnelian and I will stay here in case any more Centipeetles show up, wouldn't want the little buggers to get the drop on us again." Garnet orders.

* * *

Blue leads Steven out of the temple to a fully-grown cherry blossom tree, found up on the hill.

"This is how your Mother taught me to summon my weapon. She told me to pay attention to the petals." Blue moves her body like a ballerina dancing on stage, following the petals in the breeze. "The way they dance seems improvised, but it is actually being calculated in real-time based on the physical properties of this planet. With hard work and dedication, you can master the magical properties of your gem and perform your own dance!" The slim Gem's gemstone begins to emit a bright glow; she reaches for her chest and pulls out a sword. "Like so."

"Whoa," Steven says awestruck at the display.

"Now you try Steven," Blue says stepping out-of-the-way.

Steven takes a deep breath and tries to "dance" with the petals as suggested.

* * *

A half-hour goes by, but nothing happens. "Am I doing this right?"

"Did Blue tell you about the 'petal thing'?" Carnelian asks greeting the two Gems.

"Hey, Carney." Steven greets the small, red Quartz.

Carnelian turns to Blue, "Boss told me to come get you; said she needs help with fortifying the rear or something."

"On my way; we'll try this again later Steven," Blue says hopping to her feet.

"No worries Blue, I can help him out," Carnelian suggests.

"Okay, just don't do anything too reckless." Blue politely asks before leaving.

"No promises!" Carnelian responds. The red Quartz turns to Steven. "So how can your big sister help you out?"

"Blue said that I need to practice really hard, so I can dance like a tree or something." The boy answers.

Carnelian cracks a smile, chuckling a bit. "Listen, Steven, that stuff may work for Blue, but when I need to summon my weapon, it just happens." Carnelian closes her eyes and reaches for the gem on her shoulder, and pulls out a whip emitting light-blue electricity, "as you can see." The red Gem whirls her weapon around playfully but accidentally fires an electric blast from it to both hers and Stevens's shock, with neither of them knowing where it went. "Don't worry; it probably won't hit anything important," Carnelian assures with a coy smile.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Big Doughnut, Lars finishes throwing out some trash; Lars turns to head back inside but stops when the electric blast from Carnelian's whip destroys the trashcan, spreading garbage everywhere, much to his dismay.

* * *

Back at the Beach House, Steven walks in as the Gems finish setting up barriers using furniture and other supplies they could find. "This should keep them out this time," Garnet states approvingly.

"Hey Garnet, can you help me out," Steven asks the tall Gem.

"Sure, what do you need?" Garnet asks.

"It's about summoning my weapon." Steven states. "Blue told me to practice dancing with the petals, and Carney tells me that it just happens on my own and I don't have to do anything, but nothings working, do you have any advice for me?"

Garnet removes her translucent blue visor and looks at Steven with her three eyes. "In a way, I would recommend both pieces of advice."

"So, I'm supposed to work really hard and not try at all at the same time?" Steven asks even more confused.

"Think of it like this." Garnet begins. "For me, my weapons have been connected to my basic instincts of when to act and how to act in different scenarios, whenever a situation arises that requires my gauntlets, they appear, ready for battle, but I also have to train my mind to recognize those situations, so I can summon them when I need to. Does that make sense?"

"I think so," Steven says understanding some of what Garnet said. "I think my best bet is to retrace my steps and recreate what happened the last time my gem glowed." Steven recreates the scenario in his mind. "So, I walked through the front door and got scared by one of the Centipeetles, Carnelian grabbed and poofed it. Blue came over and poofed a bunch of others. Then a group tried to raid the fridge then you poofed them, Garnet. Afterwards, you opened the fridge and I saw the Cookie Cats and I was so happy, I ate one and then my gem glowed and… that's about it."

Before Garnet could respond, she is cut off by a large rumble that shakes the house.

Carnelian and Blue walk out from the Burning Room. "What was that?" Blue asks.

Steven and the Gems head outside to find the source of the rumbling and come across a large Blue Centipeetle.

* * *

"That is one big mother…" Carnelian says before she is cut off by Garnet.

"Steven, stay in the house!" Garnet orders.

"What? No, I can help." Steven declares.

"Listen to Garnet," Blue says as she summons her swords. "This'll be over before you know it."

The large Centipeetle hisses at the gems and fires a blue beam from its mouth that freezes everything it hits. The Gems dodge the blast and advance on the monster, led by Garnet "Let's do this."

Carnelian whirls her whip and fires blasts of electricity at the Centipeetle, but it just dodges the attacks. Blue and Garnet attack the Centipeetle together, but it just keeps dodging their attacks repeatedly. Carnelian spins dashes towards the large Centipeetle and tries to entangle her shock-whip around it, but the monster grabs the weapon with its pincers and flings Carnelian into the air. Garnet jumps and grabs the small Quartz, and they land safely on the ground. Blue charges at the insectoid monster and thrust her swords at its Gem location, but the creature dodges it with complete accuracy, then attacks the Pearl with its tail, which Blue scarcely dodges. Garnet smashes her gauntlets onto the ground sending a shock wave toward the Centipeetle, but it quickly jumps onto the side of the mountain avoiding the wave. The creature retaliates by firing her ice beam at the Gems again, and they barely dodge it and take cover behind a now frozen, broken off piece of the temple.

"What are we going to do?" Carnelian questions in a panicked tone. "It's like it knows what move we're going to make before we even make it."

"We'll figure out a plan, but right now, we need to keep it away from the temple and Steven!" Garnet orders.

* * *

Steven looks out the window worried about his friends. "Oh Geez, this is not good!" Steven begins pacing. "I got to do something, but I don't have a weapon, if I go out there I'll probably die, but if I don't, they'll definitely die." Steven continues pacing, but stops when he hears a burrowing sound, he turns and sees several Centipeetle spawns digging through the furniture blockade. "AH!" The young Half-Gem looks around to see what he could use to defend himself; he finds a mop in the corner and runs to it. Steven picks up the mop and uses and readies himself for an attack. The Centipeetles however, just ignore Steven as they try to burrow their way through the door to the Burning Room. Steven walks over confused at what the small creatures are doing. Steven pokes one of them with a mop to which it responds with a hiss, before going back to burrowing. Steven confusingly observes the Centipeetles, but then remembers what Blue said earlier, 'We may have something they're looking for, whatever that is.' Steven looks back at the window, still seeing the Gems fight, then looks back at the burrowing insectoids. "Please don't be wrong about this. Please don't be wrong about this." Steven chants to himself as he opens the door the room, and gazes at the thousands of bubbled Gems.

* * *

The Centipeetles charge into the room and begin scouring for something. They look at all the different bubbles closest to the ground, only to turn away from them. Steven enters the room and searches through the bubbles, keeping his distance from the blue creatures. Then, Steven notices a small group of Centipeetles stacked on top of each other trying to reach a bubbled red gem, Steven looks at the mop he is holding and breathes an unsure sigh as he pops the bubble with it. The red Gem falls to the ground, a red light emerges from it as it begins taking form, the light continues to grow in size and mold its appearance, revealing itself to be, "a Red Centipeetle?" Steven says to himself stepping back, the red insect starts breathing fire all around the room, with Steven almost hit by its flames. The house shakes once more as the Gems continue to fight the Blue Centipeetle; Steven realizes this is what it was searching for all along. Steven pokes the Red Centipeetle with the mop trying to get its attention, "follow me." Steven pokes it again, "this way." The red creature follows Steven out of the room to the Blue Centipeetle.

* * *

Garnet, Carnelian, and Blue continue assaulting the creature, who just continues to avoid their attacks. The Large creature charges its ice breath and fires it at the Gems, they jump out-of-the-way but Garnet's hit by the blast and her right leg begins to freeze. "GARNET!" Blue and Carnelian shout running to their friend, "You all right Boss?" Carnelian asks.

"I'm fine, you two need to move now!" Garnet orders. But their too late, the Blue Centipeetle charges its ice breath once more, preparing to freeze all three of them on the spot.

"WAIT!" Steven shouts getting both the Gems and the Centipeetles attention.

"Steven! Get back in the house!" Garnet orders, worried about him.

"No, I found what it was looking for." Steven moves aside as the Red Centipeetle emerges from the house and notices the Blue Centipeetle, it screeches as if trying to say a name that sounded like "Saf-Ahyuh-R." The Blue Centipeetle sees its red counterpart and tries to screech a name as well, sounding like "Roo-Bee." The two creatures crawl to each other and wrap around one another in a romantic kind of way.

"Aw," Steven says at the display of love.

The two creatures turn to Steven and screech something that sounded like, "Thangk-Yoo," before they burrow underground together, off to parts unknown.

Steven not knowing what they said exactly, utters, "Uh… You're Welcome, I think." Steven turns to the Gems and runs towards them. "Guys are you okay?"

Carnelian uses the hot electricity emitting from her whip to thaw Garnet's leg out, "you good?" The red Gem asks.

The taller gem quickly stands up and kicks the air several times to restore feeling to her leg; Garnet thanked Carnelian, with an approving smile, before turning to Steven. "Steven, that was completely dangerous."

"I know," Steven states, "but I had to do something, I may not have a weapon but that doesn't make me useless, what I did was dangerous, but I'm a Crystal Gem too and I wasn't going to let you guys risk your lives." Steven sighs to himself. "I'm probably grounded aren't I, for disobeying."

"Steven, you're not grounded," Garnet states to the boy's surprise. "While I don't approve of how unbelievably dangerous that was, it was the right move nonetheless, and it saved our lives."

"Even if your gem can't do anything yet, you're still one of us, Steven." Carnelian states, "We're not the Crystal Gems without you!"

"We're sure someday you'll figure out how to properly control your gem, in your own way." Blue chips in.

"Thanks, guys," Steven says giving the Gems a hug.

* * *

 **Note: Garnet is a single Gem in this AU, not a fusion.**


	2. Chapter 2: The New Girl

Steven walks down the boardwalk, enjoying the beautiful day today. "Ah, you got to love Beach City, everyone's nice, so many familiar faces, and a wonderful, well… beach." Steven chuckles to himself. The boy walks by Mr. Smiley opening the newly built Funland Arcade. "Hey, Mr. Smiley, what's new," Steven says waving to him.

"Oh, hey Steven, just opening up the new Arcade." Mr. Smiley finishes opening the new establishment. "And there we go, the first day of the grand opening, anyone game of your choice is on me, if you're interested." The tall man says offering Steven some quarters.

"Thanks, but not now, I'll stop by later." Steven waves goodbye as he continues down. He passes by Fish Stew Pizza where he sees the Pizza Sisters, Kiki, and Jenny.

"Hey ladies, how's it going?" Steven asks, trying to act cool.

"Hey Steven." the sisters greet Steven back, giggling at his cute attempt at being charming.

Steven walks past Beach Citywalk Fries and greets his best friend, Peedee and his older brother, Ronaldo, who is typing something on his tablet.

"Sup Peedee, sup Ronaldo." Steven greets the brothers.

Peedee greets him back, "Hey Steven."

Ronaldo just gives Steven a quick peace sign before going back to his tablet.

Steven continues walking down the boardwalk, not paying attention to where he is going and inevitably bumps into someone knocking them both down. "I'm sorry." Steven apologizes. "I didn't see you there are you okay?" Steven looks up and sees the person he bumped into, a girl around his age that he has never seen around here.

"Yeah, I'm fine; I wasn't paying attention where I was going." The girl answers, she rubs her forehead and realizes something is missing. "Oh no, my glasses, where are they?" She gets on knees and hand as she begins looking around; Steven gets on the ground as well to help her.

"Found them," Steven says, giving them to her.

"Thank you." The girl gives Steven a little thankful smile.

"You're welcome." Steven answers. "I've never seen you around here before."

"My family just moved into town, I figured I would go around and see what the place is like." She answers. "The name's Connie." She states sticking her arm out to greet Steven with a handshake.

"I'm Steven, nice to meet you." The boy replies accepting the handshake.

"So how long have you lived in Beach City?" Connie asks.

"I lived here most of my life." Steven answers. "Ever since I was a baby, would you like me to give you a tour of the town?"

"Thanks, but not now. I was just on my way home." Connie states. "Maybe tomorrow does that work?"

"Sure, tomorrow works," Steven answers with a happy smile. "Meet you here at the boardwalk?"

"Sounds good; well, see you tomorrow then," Connie says as she waves goodbye to Steven.

The boy blushes a little before he continues his day.

* * *

Back at the Beach House, Carnelian and Steven's father, Greg, are chatting with each other, while listening to some soft-rock music on the radio and munch on some freshly microwaved popcorn; even though Carnelian does not need to eat, she enjoys the taste. The two of them talking about what they have been up to since they have not seen each other in a while. Carnelian just finishes telling him about how Steven almost summoned his Gem weapon and how he saved them from the Centipeetles.

Steven walks in through the main door, and notices his father, "Dad." Steven runs over to hug the parent, who gives him a hug back.

"Hey, there kiddo." Greg greets his son back, before releasing him from the hug.

"Hey Steven," Carnelian greets her little brother, "I was just telling Greg about what happened with the Centipeetles. He was really impressed."

"It was nothing really," Steven says humbly.

"So how was your day, man?" Carnelian curiously asks.

"Oh… it was just another day in Beach City." Steven answers but starts blushing again, remembering Connie.

Carnelian instantly notices the blush. "What's up with the red on your face?"

"Red, what are you talking about?" Steven placed his hand on his cheeks; and realizes they feel warm.

"Is everything all right Steven?" Greg asks his son.

"Well… it's probably nothing, but…" Steven pauses trying to think of what to say. "I did meet a girl…"

Carnelian's jaw drops, and eyes light up like stars. "Oh My Gosh!" Carnelian squeals as she scurries her way to Steven. "What's her name? Is she cute? I need details man!"

"What are you doing?" Steven asks the nosey red Gem.

"My little bro met a girl." Carnelian teases Steven, implying he has a crush.

"It's not what you think," Steven responds defensively. "I just met a new girl in town, and nothing else."

Carnelian still gives Steven a cheeky smile, making Steven blush even more. "I'm serious."

"Okay, whatever you say," Carnelian says jokingly.

"Steven it's okay; boys around your age start developing crushes." Greg tries to reassure. However, it ends up making Steven blush more, who still denies that he has a crush.

The warp pad then begins to glow as Garnet and Blue return. "Garnet and Blue are back," Steven states, hoping to get them off their current topic; the two Gems emerge from the beam of light, revealing themselves covered in mud, Garnets visor cracked, and Blue's hair messed up. The two of them notice Stevens father. "Hello, Greg." Blue gently nods at him with a small yet, welcoming smile. Garnet gives him thumbs up.

"Whoa, what happened to you two?" Carnelian asks the two Gems, a bit surprised to see them like this.

Garnet steps off the warp pad and answers the question in her usual clear tone. "Blue and I were just surveying some abandoned Gem locations when we ran into a corrupted Gem and a big one at that. We could not let it get away, so we spent the entire time going after it and it was a lot cleverer than we thought. We came back to get cleaned up and let you guys know what's going on before we go hunting."

Blue then steps forward and openly ask Steven and Carnelian, "So, how was your day?"

"Meh, I just sat back and relaxed with Greg for the day," Carnelian tells the two of them.

Garnet lightly chuckles to herself while she washed the mud off her with a rag. She tosses a wet cloth to Blue; who lifts her bangs to wash the mud off her face. "What about you Steven."

Steven, still with a slight blush on his face does not hear what Blue said. "You okay Steven?" Blue asks again, this time getting the boys' attention.

"Oh sorry, I was lost in thought." Steven apologizes, Carnelian still giving him a teasing smile. "Well, I just did my usual routine; I greeted the people on the boardwalk; Mr. Smiley, Jenny, Kiki, Peedee, and Ronaldo. Then I met… a girl."

"Really, who, might I ask?" Blue asks the boy

"Good luck; I asked him the same question," Carnelian states to the taller Gem.

"Come on Carnelian; Steven doesn't have to tell us if he doesn't want to." Garnet scolds the small red Gem.

"I don't mind telling you, I just don't want you guys to make a big deal out of it," Steven says still a little embarrassed.

"Okay, we won't make a big deal out of it, and I'll stop teasing." Carnelian apologizes. Carnelian takes a couple of steps back, giving Steven some room.

Steven takes a deep breath and exhales, clearing his thoughts before speaking to the Gems. "So, I did my usual routine like I said, and I accidentally bump into a girl. Her name is Connie, and she is new in town, we talked for a bit and I offered to give her a tour tomorrow."

"Wow, just met her and already has a date." Carnelian jokes.

"Carney…" Steven groans defensively.

"Okay, I'll stop for real this time." Carnelian apologizes again.

"Well, Garnet and I are going hunting tomorrow. So, we won't be able to meet her." Blue states, washing the last of the mud off her and pulls two twigs out of her hair. "Hope your tour goes well."

Garnet and Blue prepare the warp pad to leave. "Good luck tomorrow." A bright light surrounds the two Gems as they disappear.

The next day, Steven waits at the Boardwalk for Connie thinking to himself of where they should go first on their tour. Maybe stop at the arcade and see if Mr. Smiley's offer is still available, or maybe a quick meal at Fish Stew Pizza.

"Sup, dude." Steven jumps as Carnelian sneaks' up behind him, munching on something. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

"It's okay; I'm just waiting for Connie," Steven tells the scarlet colored Gem.

"Right your tour. I recommend your first stop being Beach Citywalk Fries." Carnelian suggests. "They have this new thing, called Fry-Bits. They're super good." Carnelian takes another handful of her snack, the Bits she was recommending. "Mm, these are so good."

"Hey there Steven!" Steven turns to see Connie quickly walking towards him.

"Hey, Connie!" Steven greets the girl with a wave.

"Sorry I'm late; I needed to help my parents with something." Connie apologizes for keeping him waiting.

"No worries, you ready for the tour?" Steven asks, Connie nods, eager to see what Beach City has to offer.

"I'll leave you two then. Good luck." Carnelian wishes to her little brother, as she leaves.

"A friend of yours?"

"Sister."

"Seems nice; so where should we begin?" Connie asks ready to start the tour.

* * *

Steven shows Connie around Beach City, starting with the restaurants Beach Citywalk Fries and Fish Stew Pizza, where Steven introduced her to Peedee, Ronaldo, Kiki, and Jenny. The four of them welcome her to Beach City by offering a small order of Pizza and Fries on them. However, she humbly declines the offer. "Thanks, but I'm not feeling hungry now. I'll stop by later with some money of my own."

The next site of their tour takes them to Funland Arcade; Steven introduces Connie to Mr. Smiley and asks him if his offer from yesterday is still available. "Sorry, offer expired yesterday. Though, I'm willing to make an exception for my favorite customer and his friend." He hands the two of them four quarters each.

The two kids enter the arcade, with Steven trying to decide what game they should play first. Connie then admits to Steven that she is not very good with video games. "I'm more of a book-worm than a gamer."

"Don't worry about it," Steven reassured her; he looks over her shoulder and notices a newly installed rhythm-based dancing game. "That one looks fun." The two of them check out the new game placing their quarters in, and the game begins. They follow the dance moves the game lays out for them and both do exceptionally well. Connie cracks a smile, having fun with her new friend.

* * *

Their last stop was at the beach. The two of them admiring the scenery; the sun reflected off the water, the warm sand beneath their feet, and the cool tide that would rush in. The two of them walked along the beach until they came across the Crystal Temple. "Whoa, what is that?" Connie utters, starry-eyed at the marvelous structure.

"Oh, that's my house." Steven plainly tells her.

"That's your house?" Connie asks turning to Steven with a look of un-believability.

"Yep," Steven answers. "Well, the Beach House actually, but yeah. I live there with my family; my sister Carney, who you already met, Blue and Garnet."

"Are they your parents?" Connie asks.

"Well, sort of." Steven answers. "They look after both me and Carnelian, and they're fun to hang out with."

Steven turns to his friend. "So, what do you think of Beach City?"

"It's a nice little town. I think I'll like it here." Connie answers honestly. "And I wouldn't mind getting to hang out with you again."

Steven blushes slightly at the response. "Well, I'm glad you'll like it here."

"Sup dudes!" Carnelian shouts from the Beach House. "How was the tour?"

"Hey Carnelian," Steven greets the Gem. "The tour went well!"

"Good to hear," Carnelian answers back, making her way down to the two kids. She clasps Connie's hand and shakes it. "Nice to meet you Miss Connie, Steven was really looking forward to giving you the tour."

"Well, I can definitely see why," Connie answers complimenting what the small town has to offer.

Steven smiles at Connie's kind remark and then turns to his sister. "So, have Blue and Garnet returned yet?" Steven asks, wanting to introduce Connie to them.

"Nothing yet but this is Garnet and Blue, they're probably okay," Carnelian answers again, trying to reassure Steven.

"Are they at work or something?" Connie asks Steven, curious about what he and his sister mean.

"Sort of, it's hard to explain," Steven says rubbing the back of his head, not sure how to answers. "My family is… complicated."

"Well, that's one way to put it." Carnelian sarcastically agrees with Steven.

Suddenly, the ground begins to shake slightly, knocking the three of them down on the ground. "Was that an earthquake?" Connie asks. "Does Beach City get earthquakes?" The tremors get faster with each second. Then out of the sand, a giant worm-like monster, emerges from the ground.

"A corrupted Gem," Carnelian shouts then turns to Steven and Connie. "You two find somewhere safe!" Carnelian reaches for her gemstone on her arm and pulls out her shock-whip. "Get going."

Steven grabs Connie's hand and pulls her two some cover. "Come on, this way." Steven and Connie hide behind one of the broken off pieces of the temple, watching the battle that was about to unfold from afar.

* * *

"Let's see what you got, fish bait." Carnelian whirls her whip around, charging its electric blast and throws it at the monster, successfully hitting it and getting its attention. The monster charges at the red quartz and dodges it, causing the creature to slam into the side of the hill. Carnelian spin-dashes at the creature and smacks its head, dizzying it. With the creature now stunned Carnelian summons another whip from her Gem, wrapping both of them around the monster's body, her eyes glow a light blue, and her hair stands up as she sends jolts of electricity through the monster. The corrupted Gem lets out a painful roar, before flinging its body around, taking the red Gem with it; it throws itself in random directions trying to wriggle free. Tossing Carnelian around, who is still holding on tightly to her whips. Slamming her into rocks, the side of the hill and the temple, as well as the sand of the beach, but still continues to hold on to them and electrocuting the monster.

Steven and Connie continue to watch from their cover, seeing Connie in a mixture of astonishing disbelief and sheer terror. "What is happening?"

"I told you my family's complicated," Steven says, not knowing how to explain this in a few words. He looks back at the fight, still seeing Carnelian still being rag-dolled. "Is that all you got you overgrown maggot!" Carnelian taunts the creature.

"I'll explain everything later," Steven assures her.

The monster continues to fling the small red Gem and eventually gets her to release the whips. Carnelian slams into a rock, making her moan in pain. The corrupted Gem untangled itself and charges at Carnelian, knocking into the side of the temple, and continues slamming her into the walls.

"Carnelian!" Steven shouts; watching as his sister continues to take the thrashing. Steven does not know what to do, he does not have a weapon, and he could end up putting Connie in even more danger if he messes up. Steven notices Connie get out of the cover, and she pitches nearby stones at the monster, trying to get its attention. "Get away from her!" She successfully gets the monsters' attention and decides to go after her. Steven and Connie run the opposite as fast as they can from the creature. As the corrupted Gem got closer, the ground began to shake harder until the two kids lost their balance and fell on to the sand. Creature charges at the two of them, ready to go in for the kill. Steven's navel area then begins to glow a bright pink and out of instinct raises his left arm in defense as a large, bright-pink shield manifests, protecting himself and Connie and knocking the creature back.

"A shield," Steven says, awestruck by his Gem weapon. Connie gets up seeing Steven with his light-based weapon. "I didn't know you could do that."

"I didn't know I could do that," Steven admits.

The Gem monster gets back up and charges at the two kids once more, Steven with his shield ready for a fight. Before it could strike, two shock-whips wraps around the creature, electrocuting it, Steven quickly shields himself and Connie from the flying sparks. A still recovering Carnelian amplifies whips electrical output, inflicting greater damage than before to the corrupted Gem. The red quartz jumps into the air, high enough to put her above the monster, she prepares her spin-dash while in the air, surrounding herself with electricity, creating a blue sphere of voltaic energy before slamming herself downwards on to the creature. Steven expands his shield to protect themselves from the blast, after the mixture of smoke and sand clears, there is only a small crater where the corrupted Gem once was. A bruised Carnelian crawls out of said crater holding a translucent, red bubble, holding the creatures' gemstone, with a pleased smile on her face, before sending it to the Burning Room. The red Quartz notices Steven with a shield, "You were able to summon your Gem weapon. Nice bro."

"Thanks, sis." Steven accepts the compliment, as Steven calms down from the battle; his shield disappears.

"That was pretty amazing." Connie compliments as well.

"Are you okay?" Steven asks her, with some concern. "I didn't mean for something like this to happen."

"That was one of the coolest things I've ever seen," Connie answers ecstatically.

"You were brave too." Steven states blushing somewhat, "Trying to help Carney like that."

Connie chuckles to herself a bit. "But not as cool as you summoning a shield. I think I'm really going to enjoy being here in Beach City." A ding goes off, as Connie reaches into back pocket, pulling out a cell phone, her eyes widen when she realizes what time it is. "It's that late already. Sorry, I need to get home." Before she leaves, she takes out a pen and a small notepad and writes something down. She hands the paper to Steven. "This is my house and cell number if you want to hang out again."

"Oh, thanks." Steven accepts the paper, before Connie leaves, waving goodbye.

Steven looks at the phone number and silently admits to himself, to avoid any teasing from Carnelian, that he may have a small crush on her.


	3. Chapter 3: First Mission

The warp pad glows brightly as both Garnet and Blue return, with panicked expressions and tones. "Steven, Carnelian the monster is heading th…" Garnet is cutoff as she and Blue quickly duck from an incoming circular projectile that bounces off the walls behind them and returns to its owner, Steven.

"Sorry guys! I didn't see you there." Steven apologizes as he catches his Gem weapon.

Blue moves her bangs aside to get a clearer look. "Was that a shield?"

"Yeah, Steven summoned it and helped me kick a monster's butt." Carnelian praises her brother. "He was pretty awesome."

"I bet it was quite the display," Blue says with a smile, proud of Steven being able to summon his Mother's Gem Weapon; though a bit disappointed that she and Garnet were not present to witness him summon it for the first time.

"The monster's bubbled away safely?" Garnet asks.

"It's in the Burning Room," Carnelian confirms to the lead Gem.

"Excellent."

"So, now that I can summon a weapon, does this mean I can go on missions with you guys?" Steven asks with a big smile on his face.

"Not yet," Garnet answers truthfully. "While you can summon your weapon, you still have a lot to learn and are not ready for a real mission yet; too much responsibility."

"What! I'm responsible."

"You were throwing a shield around the house like it was a sports disk."

"I…" Steven starts, but stops and sighs realizing Garnet had a point.

"However, you can go with us on recovery missions," Garnet suggests.

"Recovery missions, what are those?"

"They're just simple missions; retrieving Gem artifacts, lost technology, stuff like that." Blue pitches in.

"But they're so boring." Carnelian intervenes. "If I wanted to be stuck in a dusty room full of old junk, I'd rather go to a museum. At least they have concession stands."

"They're not all that bad Carnelian."

"So, when is our next one?" Steven asks.

"Tomorrow, there are some locations we haven't checked yet and it would be quicker and more efficient if we divided into teams." Garnet answers.

"Why can't we go now?" Steven asks, eager for his first mission.

"Because it's almost bedtime; so, get a good night sleep, and we'll begin briefing in the morning."

"Alright; goodnight guys," Steven says as he walks to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

"Goodnight Steven."

* * *

Steven lies awake in bed, unable to sleep, excited for his first mission tomorrow. Looking over at his alarm clock, he sees it is almost 11:30. "Maybe some warm milk will help me sleep." Steven gets out of bed and walks to the kitchen; he microwaves a cup of milk until it is warm. "Ah, perfect temperature." He quickly finishes his beverage and turns to go back to bed; but stops when he notices a small bright blue light through the window, coming from Blue's cherry blossom tree. "I wonder what's going on there." Steven finds and puts on some slippers and heads outside to investigate.

* * *

Steven arrives at the tree; where he finds Blue sitting underneath it, holding a diamond-shaped, glowing translucent blue pad; she traces her finger across it, sketching the horizon in front of her. Her ear buds were in, listening to her music player, humming the song while she sketched. Blue had a soft spot for Earth music, and would always listen to it when she had free time or looking for inspiration for her drawings.

Greg got her a music player, so she could take her favorite songs with her. Steven listened closely and was able to recognize the song; it was Home by Lisa Hannigan. She was Blue's favorite artist, though she would never really say why.

The Pearl continued to sketch but stops when she sees Stevens's reflection within the pad, she pulls out her earbuds and turns to him. "Steven. What are you doing up?"

"Sorry, I couldn't sleep," Steven confesses. "I got up for some warm milk and saw a light coming from your tree."

"I apologize; I didn't mean to make you come out here." Blue saves her unfinished work before turning off the device.

"Are you having a rough night?" Steven asks concerned.

"Gems don't need to sleep, Steven."

"I know that, but are you okay? I don't usually see you here at night."

"I-I just have a lot on my mind now." Blue looks at Steven, only her left eye uncovered her hair.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Steven sits down next to her.

"No, it's personal stuff… and I don't want to get you involved." Blue answers honestly.

"Blue, if something's bothering you, you can tell me."

Blue takes a deep breath and decides to tell him. "Seeing you being able to bring forth your Gem Weapon… well… It reminded me of her."

"You mean Mom?"

Blue nods quietly.

"I don't know her like you do." Steven truthfully states, with a hint of melancholy in his tone. "All I really know is what my dad told me. What was she like to you, how did you two meet?"

The Pearl brushes her hair back, unveiling her right eye; tilting her head upwards and looks at the night sky. "I can't go into much detail; there are things about us that we can't tell you yet. But you will eventually learn them over time."

"I understand," Steven says, trusting the Pearl.

Blue thinks to herself for a moment before she begins. "When I first met Rose, I was in a dark place." Blue's hand tensely squeezes a patch grass surrounding the tree. "I lost someone… close to me; someone I thought I couldn't live without. Rose tried to help me move forward from it. I told her she was wasting her time on a lost cause and should just leave me to wallow in self-pity. But she didn't see me as a lost cause." She pauses and looks over at Steven, giving him a small smile. "She said I could be something more than what I was made for; that I am stronger than I think I am. She trained me how to fight, how to stick up for myself, how to be myself and how to love myself for who I am. No matter how many times I fell, she continued to pick me back up until I was able to move forward on my own."

"Wow." The only word that came to Stevens's mouth, summing up his thoughts on what Blue just told him. "It sounds like she was more than just a friend."

"Yes, we formed an attachment that I didn't think Gems were capable of." Small tears begin to form in the Pearls eyes, remembering those days.

"I didn't mean to make you upset." Steven apologizes, for making her tear up.

Blue wipes the tears from her eyes, softly giggling. "I'm not upset Steven, I actually… feel a bit lighter, that I got to talk to someone about this. Thank you."

"No problem. I'll always listen to what you have to say."

The Pearl nods at him a gratefully. "Now time to get you to bed, it's…" Blue activates her pad to look at the time. "Oh my stars, it's already that late!"

"Aw man. Now that we had that talk, I don't feel sleepy anymore."

Blue grabs her music player and finds a soft, calming song, before giving the device to Steven. "This should help you sleep; we have a big day tomorrow." Blue walks Steven back to the Beach House, to put him to bed.

* * *

Steven was in a deep sleep, listening to the soft song from the music player. All night he thought to himself what Blue had told him, about her relationship with his Mom. He kept on thinking about the 'dark place' that she told him about. Blue was kind, brave and very protective, and shy at times. He had a hard time picturing her having a 'dark place.' These thoughts raced through his mind. However, he would not ask Blue; she told him there were things he will learn over time and will not push her into answering questions she is uncomfortable telling him already.

Steven begins hearing a faint voice calling his name, he thought he was still dreaming, but the voice got louder as it continued to ask for him. He slowly opens his drowsy eyes and sees a red cat staring at him. "Wake up bro!"

"Ah!" Steven jumps up, startled by the feline accidentally knocking it off his bed. He looks at it and sees a red gemstone on its shoulder. "Oh, it's just you Carnelian."

A bright red energy surrounds the cat as its appearance changes into the red Quartz. "Good morning Steven," Carnelian says, rubbing the back of her head, trying not to giggle at his reaction. "I've been trying to get you up for the past fifteen minutes, we're about to start briefing."

"Sorry, I couldn't hear you." Steven apologizes as he pulls out the earbuds. "Blue lent me this for the night."

"No problem, now come on!" Carnelian urges him to get moving.

"Okay, I'm moving." Steven rubs yawns and rubs his eyes as he slowly gets out of bed, he tiredly heads to the bathroom to wash up and get his day started.

* * *

A fully refreshed Steven eats a toasted bagel with cream cheese while he listened to Garnet along with Blue and Carnelian.

"I went over the list of locations we haven't searched yet and marked two that could be of importance." She takes out a map, dozens of sites marked with red Xs. "One is in a mountain region and the other in a desert." She circles them with a pencil. "We'll be going in teams of two; Carnelian and I will take the mountain region, I could use her manipulation of electricity."

"You got it, Boss," Carnelian says, lazing back.

Garnet looks over at Blue and Steven. "That means you two will investigate the desert."

"You can count on us!" Steven says with a grin, while Blue nods.

"Anything that is found, we'll bring back here and decide what to do with them later. Let's get going."

"How will we know when we found where we're supposed to go?" Steven asks.

"You'll know it when you see it," Garnet assures him.

Carnelian jumps off the couch and spin-dashes to the warp pad. "Good luck guys." Carnelian wishes to Blue and Steven, as she and Garnet disappear in a flash.

"If we're going to a desert, you should bring plenty of water," Blue suggests, wanting to keep hydrated if they are going to the desert.

Steven finishes his bagel and nods in agreement; he grabs his backpack from the closet and a dozen cold water bottle from the fridge. "Oh, before I forget." Steven reaches into his pocket and gives Blue back her music player. "Thanks for lending it to me again."

"No need for thanks, glad you got a good night sleep." Blue takes the small device and places it within Gem, Blue had a unique ability to turn certain objects into light-based energy and absorb them into her gem for safekeeping.

"I'm so excited for this," Steven says with a big smile.

Blue activates the pad, transporting both her and the young Half-Gem to their destination.

* * *

The two of them arrive in the desert, Steven feeling a bit dizzy experiencing warp pad travel for the first time. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it, eventually." Blue assures him. "Carnelian and I passed out the first couple of times using it."

"Well, that's reassuring," Steven says, trying to stand firm against the groggy feeling in his head.

"We can wait awhile until you're at a hundred percent. If you want."

Steven shakes his head and balances himself. "No, I'm good. Let's get going."

"Alright then, follow my lead." Blue instructs as she leads Steven to the place of interest.

* * *

The two Crystal Gems march through the vast wasteland, the heat of the sun bearing down upon them. Steven chugs an entire bottle of water, as they keep moving.

"How much further Blue?" Steven asks, slowly becoming exhausted from the long hike and overbearing heat.

"It shouldn't be that much farther. Garnet said we would know it when we see it." Blue states, she turns to see an exhausted Steven, who looked as if he was about to collapse any second. "But for now, let's find some shade; we could use a break."

"I'm okay. Honest."

"You need to rest for a bit Steven, we'll resume after you recovered." The Pearl insists.

"Okay, we'll take a break." Steven sighs, knowing that there is no point in arguing with Blue; she will always put his wellbeing ahead of everything else.

"There looks good." Blue leads the young Half-Gem to a nearby cave, the shade feeling cool and relaxing. "We'll stay here for a couple of minutes."

Steven relaxes on the side of caves wall, quickly drinking another bottle of water. Blue sits down next to him, Steven offers her some water but kindly declines, not needing to eat or drink.

"So, what kind of stuff do you think we'll find?" Steven asks the Pearl.

"Who knows?" Blue honestly answers. "Maybe some lost pieces of Gem culture or ancient technology, like Garnet said."

"Why are Gem artifacts scattered across the planet anyways, I thought you would have them all locked away in the temple."

Pearl purses her lip, trying to think of the right words to say. "Like I said last night; there are some things about us that you'll learn over time… But there were Gems here on Earth long before us, they left the artifacts here."

"There were other Gems here, besides you guys?" Steven asks, surprised by this latest information.

"Yes… but it was a very long time ago." Blue answered not knowing how else to respond; she did not know how to truthfully answer Steven's question without giving away too much.

Suddenly, what sounded like a roar shook the entire cave; the two of them look deeper into the natural structure and see two, glowing pink eyes staring at them in the distance. Blue and Steven quickly get up and move out of the cave, Blue summons her swords and Steven his shield ready to defend themselves.

The creature begins moving towards them; Blue tightly grips her swords, ready to battle whatever it is. The beast exits the cave and reveals itself. "Is that a pink lion?" Steven asks, caught off guard by how non-threatening it looked, compared to the other monsters the Gems fight.

The Pink feline had drowsy looking eyes; not looking for a fight, but Blue was still on guard. The odd-colored animal just yawns and licks its chops, lazily sitting on the sand, licking its paws.

"He looks like he doesn't pose a threat." Blue puts her swords away, and Steven deactivates his shield. "I guess we'll be on our way." Blue and Steven begin to leave as the lion turns to go back into its cave. It stops at the entrance and starts digging.

"What's it doing?" Steven asks, as he and Blue watch as it digs. The giant feline grabs something from its digging spot and walks over to the two Crystal Gems, bringing it to them. It was a long, metallic, and pink, with a rose symbol in the center. Steven could see Blue's eyes widen beneath her thick bangs; she knew what it was right off the bat. "That's… That's Rose's Scabbard." The lion lets the Pearl take the object from its jaws.

"A scabbard; like the ones used for swords?" Steven asks.

Blue nods, observing the pink sheath; she turns her attention back to the lion. "Where did you get this?"

The lion turns in the direction of the cave and walks towards it, trying to lead the two of them there. Blue and Steven look at each other and follow the lion back into the cave.

* * *

They journey further into the cave; it was too dark to see anything, the only source of light coming from Blue's gem and the lion's eyes. They soon see a bright pink glow coming from the end of the darkness; they got closer to it, leading them to a hoard of Gem artifacts.

Steven and Blue stood awestruck at the ancient collection. "This must be it," Steven says still in awe. Steven looks over at the pink lion. "He must've been Mom's pet or something, and had him guard this."

Blue turns to the large feline. She wanted to show it gratitude for leading them here but was not sure how, so she just bows to it. "Thank you… Mr. Lion…" Blue felt awkward saying that aloud, believing the animal would be unable to understand her. The lion turns its head to the Pearl; giving her a big, sloppy, kiss across her face; causing her bangs to stick upwards. Her eyes showing a bit of disgust due to the messiness of the kiss, but she soon replaces it with a smile.

"Alright Steven, let's grab all we can, and head back for the rest later."

Steven and Blue dig through the mounds of relics; Blue converting as many of the artifacts as she can into light energy, absorbing them into her gemstone; for easier carry, and Steven using his shield as a bowl to move as many relics as he can hold.

The lion quickly props its head up as it hears something, it back arched as if ready to pounce, showing off its teeth and growls lowly.

"What's wrong, boy," Steven asks, as the lion's growl continues growing vicious, ready for a coming fight. Steven and Blue look at each other with some worry; Steven places his shield-bowl down as he and Blue head outside to see what has riled up the lion.

* * *

The three of them exit the cave, where they see a giant armadillo-like creature approaches; it notices the Crystal Gems and lion. It lets out a roar, ready to attack. Steven quickly summons a new shield for defense, and Blue her swords for an offense. "You may have a weapon now Steven, but don't let your guard down." Blue raises her swords as she charges the Corrupted Gem with lightning-fast speed, even faster than Carnelian. She leaps into the air and spins like a top as she thrusts herself into the direction of the monster; her blades hit the creature, but break in two upon contact with its skin. Blue kicks the head of the Gem monster to force herself back and put some distance between it, she summons a new pair of blades from her Gem. "The hide is too thick; we'll need a different strategy."

Blue looks around searching for a weakness, and notices there is not much protection underneath the beast. "Steven, get it to expose its belly!"

"You got it!" Steven throws his shield at the creature to get its attention and succeeds. The monster stands on its hind legs and it lets out another roar, Blue charges for the belly, her blades making contact again, only to break once more, the hide was not as thick, but it was still tough.

The monster prepares to crush Steven and Blue by slamming its body on them, but the pink lion grabs them just in time. "Thanks." Steven grunts as he and Blue get up off the ground.

Blue disposes of her broken swords. "There has to be something that can damage it!"

The lion rubs its cold nose on the Pearls leg trying to get her attention. "What do you want?"

The lion's mane begins to glow as a straight pink blade saber with a red handle and rose-shaped pommel emerges from the fur; levitating into Blue's hands. The Pearl stood shocked, looking as if she was about to tear up upon recognizing it. "This… This is R-Rose's sword."

"My Mom's sword was in your head?" Steven asks the lion.

The Gem monster lets out a roar as it prepares to attack. "Rose's sword can cut through any physical form, no matter how tough, this will cut through its hide with ease."

"Alright, let's do this Blue!" Steven shouts battle ready with his shield up.

"The downside is; Rose's sword is too large and heavy for me; you have to do it, Steven."

"I still haven't truly mastered my shield, much less a sword. Swords are kind of your thing."

The monster charges at them with full speed, Steven and Blue barely dodging it. Blue notices that the creature still has not stopped its charge and it struggles to slow down, and it cannot change its direction mid-charge.

"I have an idea!" Blue says aloud. "I can't move as quickly or jump as highly with this heavy blade unless I get a boost. I'm going to need a running start, when I say now, use your shield to vault me into the air."

"Alright, I trust you Blue." Steven nods in agreement.

Blue runs a couple of kilometers away from Steven, her speed visibly slower than before. The monster turns around and prepares to charge again. Blue runs towards Steven as fast as she can, while the Corrupted Gem begins charging at them. Both Blue and the monster getting closer to Steven; luckily, the Pearl was still faster, even with the added weight. "Do it now!" Steven uses his shield and enhanced strength to launch the Pearl into the air; she slices downwards using the weight of the blade to pull her in the direction of the monster; the blade makes contact with its hide and successfully slices through it, cutting the monster into two, poofing it in a cloud of sand and smoke.

As soon as it clears, all that is left is Blue and the monsters' gemstone, which she bubbles and sends to the Burning Room.

"That was amazing!" Steven shouts with joy.

"Why thank you, Steven." Blue bows, thankfully. She looks at the blade and back to the young Half-Gem. "I think this belongs to you." Blue prepares to hand the sword over to Steven.

"Blue, I'm not good with swords." Steven reminds her.

"I know that, but still, this is your Mother's sword; you of all people should have it."

Steven takes a deep breath and looks her in her covered eyes. "And you do, too. From what you told me about my Mom and your relationship with her, she obviously cared about you a lot. Wanting to help you even when you did not want her to and never giving up. That was not just any form caring; that was love. The kind of love someone has for members of their family. She saw something in you Blue. If she were here now, I think she would want you to have her sword and would be proud of who you've become."

Steven's kind words left Blue speechless; she looked as if she was on the verge of tears.

"Blue, I…"

The Pearl hugs Steven, tears rolling down her cheeks. He hugs her back, letting her cry. The lion moves up to the two Crystal Gem and rubs his body on them, trying to get in on the display of affection.

The two Gems break from the hug and look at the lion, then back to Blue. "Do you think there's enough room in the house for him?"

Blue knew instantly what Steven was trying to ask, she looks at the lion and smiles. "Let's finish collecting what we came for; then introduce him to Garnet and Carnelian."

Steven grins with glee, knowing what Blue meant. The three of them go back into the cave to collect what they came for and go home.


	4. Chapter 4: Love at First Sight

Outside of the temple, Steven and Carnelian are playing with the pink lion: whom the young boy chose to name, Lion. Steven was on his back, chasing after Carnelian, who shapeshifted herself into an exact duplicate of the large feline. Steven happily called this game, Lion-Tag.

"I got you, Carney," Steven says tagging the crimson Gem-Lion's back.

Carnelian quickly turns around and goes after Steven and Lion. "I'm getting you back for that." Carnelian chuckles as she goes after the two of them.

Blue watches the trio play their game at the Beach House; she trusted Lion and knew he would not hurt Carnelian or Steven, but stood watch, just to be safe. Blue kept thinking to herself about what she told him and the things he would inevitably learn over time. Even though the young boy has shown potential to be a great champion; he is still a child, and should let him be one while it lasts. While Carnelian is far older than Steven is, she is still a child in Gem years, well more like a teenager to be exact. So, might as well let her have that along with her brother.

A van with the logo Mr. Universe pulls up to the beach and Greg steps out of the driver seat to greet everyone. "Hi, guys."

"Dad!" Steven runs over to greet his father, giving him a hug. "Hey, Shtoo-ball." Greg hugs his son back. Carnelian shapeshifts back to her normal form before running over to Greg, giving him a squeeze. "Don't forget about me."

"Of course, I wouldn't," Greg adds the spirited red Quartz to the hug. Greg and Rose were the closest things Carnelian had to parents. Even after Rose… left them; he continued to watch out and care for her.

Blue walks down from the Beach House to greet the man, politely bowing her head. "Hello, Gregory. What brings you here?"

"Garnet told me Steven went on his first mission. The wash was slammed, so I didn't get a chance at wishing you good luck before going." Greg says, proud of his son, though feeling a bit guilty that he was not there to see him before Steven left for the mission.

"That's okay Dad," Steven says aloud. "Oh, there's someone I'd like you to meet." Steven dashes away from his father and leads Lion to him. Greg jumps a bit seeing the large feline. "Dad, I'd like you to meet Lion, he helped Blue and me out," Steven says with a big grin.

"Uh… Hello." Greg nervously moves his hand to pet Lion; he lowers his head allowing Greg to touch him.

"Aw, he likes you."

"Yes," Blue says. "But be careful of his kisses; they are real…" Lion turns to Blue and gives her another sloppy kiss, making her bangs stand up again. "…messy."

Carnelian chuckles to herself from what she saw.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Greg opens the back of his van and takes out two pizza boxes. "To celebrate your first mission, I brought pizza, freshly baked." He hands Steven one box. "One large pizza with pepperoni and mushroom; just how you like it."

"Thanks, Dad."

Greg turns to Carnelian. "And for you Carnelian; I have one large pizza with everything on it." Carnelian takes the box from Greg and quickly devours the entire pizza before everyone's eyes. "Thanks, man." She belches into her hand afterward.

"So, uh… how'd you meet Lion?"

"We were out searching for some lost Gem artifacts, and we found him in a nearby cave." Blue answers.

"He must've been one of Moms pets or something."

"We even found Rose's sword with him," Blue adds in, showing Greg the blade and scabbard.

"Wow… it's really beautiful." Greg says, admiring the weapon. "Rose told me about her sword and how she was unstoppable in battle, but I've never seen it before."

Blue cracks a small smile. "You two were always honest with each other about everything."

"Remember when Greg first told Rose how he truly felt about her." Carnelian chuckles, reminiscing that moment from the past.

"Yeah, he was such a ham." Blue chuckles silently to herself, remembering the days when they were all younger.

"You know, it occurred to me that I never asked how you and Mom first met," Steven states, setting the Pizza box down on the sand.

"Oh, it's an old tale. I wouldn't want to bore you with stories about your old man."

"Come on, dad, please." Steven gives his father big puppy-dog like eyes.

"That's cheating; you know I can't say no to that face."

Steven continues to give him the stare.

"Alright, I'll tell you."

"Yay!" Steven sits on the sand and opens the box of pizza and taking a slice; eager to hear the story. Blue and Carnelian sit down right next to him; with the red quartz stealing a slice from the box. "You're going to love this one, bro."

* * *

It was the 1980s; Greg was 19 years old and was following his career as a rock star. Under the name, Mr. Universe; performing small shows in Beach City. His songs usually helped drum up business for local restaurants, and other establishments, but that was mostly it. However, he continues practicing and perfecting his talents, hoping to make it big one day.

Greg sat in his van, writing lyrics for a new song. "Let's see how this works." Greg reaches for his guitar and tries out what he had just written:

"Some... say I have no direction, that I'm a light-speed distraction, that's a knee-jerk reaction. Still this is the final frontier, everything is so clear, to my destiny I steer. This life in the stars is all I've ever known. Stars and stardust in infinite space is my only home. But the moment that I hit the stage, thousands of voices are calling my name. And I know in my heart it's been worth it all of the while. And as my albums fly off of the shelves, handing out autographed pics of myself. This life I chose isn't easy but sure is one heck of a ride. At the moment that I hit the stage, I hear the universe calling my name. And I know deep down in my heart I have nothing to fear. And as the solar wind blows through my hair, knowing I have so much more left to share. A wandering spirit who's tearing its way through the cold atmosphere. I'll fly like a comet. Soar like a comet. Crash like a comet. I'm just a comet."

"This will work." Greg draws a check mark next to the lyrics.

Greg highlights the lyrics he wrote, but stops when he hears what sounds like faint clapping from outside of his van; opening the back door, he sees a little girl; she had short hair, children's clothing, crimson skin and… a gemstone on her shoulder. She was sitting on the sand applauding Greg. "Encore, encore." The kid said with a voice that sounded more like teenagers.

"Um… Hello there." Greg says not knowing what to do.

"Hi, I heard your music coming from here. I really like it a lot." She says innocently.

"Oh uh… thanks." Greg looks around. "Are your parents anywhere near?"

"Parents?" The girl looks up at him like the word sounded foreign to her.

"You know, your dad and mom."

The girl looks at him again, still confused.

"The people who take care of you."

"Oh, you mean Rose."

"Is she your mother?"

The red girl stares at him blankly again.

"Carnelian!" A third voice called out, it was a motherly sounding. It came from a tall, built, pink haired woman; with a white dress that flowed all the way down to her feet, and a bronze colored breastplate and cuffs. She looked like a champion from a fantasy story. In the center of her stomach was a pink, quartz-like, gemstone.

Next to her was a slightly shorter, lean, pale-blue woman with blue hair that covered her eyes and dressed like a hip-hop ballet dancer. In the center of her chest was a smooth, round, gemstone. "There she is." She says with a soft voice.

"Hi, Rose! Hi Blue" The child waves at them.

The thin woman, Blue, quickly runs over picks ups the red child; Carnelian. "I thought I told you not to go too far from the temple." After scolding her, she turns to Greg. "I am terribly sorry, I hope she didn't trouble you."

"Uh… don't worry, she wasn't bothering me; I think she like my music."

"Yeah, his music is great." Carnelian chips in.

"Don't be mad at her Blue." The large pink haired woman, obviously Rose, said. "She has always been a little explorer."

Greg looked at the taller woman, slightly blushing at her beautiful appearance; there was something familiar about her. "I don't mean to sound rude, but have we met before… you look familiar."

"Oh, you're the musician; Mr. Universe, right?"

"The one and only."

"Blue and I went to one of your shows once and saw you play," Rose says kindly.

"Your music is something… interesting." Blue adds in.

Greg blushes slightly. "Oh, thank you, I really appreciate that."

"Blue here is a huge music fan." Carnelian intervenes again, Blue puts her hand over the small girl's mouth, to quiet her.

"Well, I have some recorded copies of my songs, if any of you are interested in one." Greg offers.

"That sounds lovely," Rose says in a cheerful tone.

"Okay, give me a second." Greg reaches back into his van and finds one of his recorded tapes, giving it to the pink haired woman.

"Thank you kindly." Rose accepts the gift, making the musician blush a little bit more.

"Rose, we need to get going." Blue interrupts. "We have to meet up with Garnet, remember."

"Oh, that's right. I have to go now Mr. Universe, but I hope we can meet again." Rose bows her head, along with Blue.

"Same here," Greg responds, he sits in his van as the three of them leave, before closing the door. Greg tries to go back to writing the song; but is unable to, still thinking about the beauty that was Rose Quartz.

* * *

The next day, Greg was out with his closest friends, Vidalia and Barbara; the three of them mostly spent their time and the boardwalk; talking about what is going on in their lives. The three of them sat around a table each drinking iced teas; Vidalia was telling Greg and Barb a funny story about her boyfriend, Yellow Tail, and a washing machine; Barb was getting kick out of it, but Greg did not pay attention; his thoughts still on the beautiful, pink-haired woman he met last night.

"Greg!" Vidalia loudly says, catching the young man's attention.

"Oh… Sorry, Vi." Greg apologizes with a slight blush on his face.

"You spaced out on us, is everything okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine, I was just lost in thought."

"Come on Gregory, we're all friends here." Barbara wraps her arm around Greg's head playfully. "What's up?"

"Well… last night I was working on one of my songs, and then I met this beautiful woman…"

"That explains the dopey look you had all day." Vidalia chuckles, before taking a sip of her drink.

"So, who's the unlucky gal." Barbara teases.

"Well… her name is Rose…"

"Wait…" Vidalia interrupts. "Tall, pink hair, dresses like she's about to go to battle."

"Yeah, you know her?"

"Not really, but I've seen her around town; she seems really fascinated with what normally goes on here like she's never experienced them before. Though her friends are cool I guess; the red one is spunky, and the blue one has good taste in music and art."

"She's been on my mind, since last night," Greg confesses.

"Well, how about you go ask her out; what's the worst that could happen," Barbara suggests, patting Greg on the back.

Greg thought to himself for a moment. "It couldn't hurt… I'll ask her the next time I see her on the beach."

"Or you could ask her at that weird temple place at the beach; she and the others live there," Vidalia suggests.

"I've seen that temple before, an odd place for home… but I live in my van, so I can't really judge." Greg gets up from his seat, taking a deep breath. "I'm going do it." He says full of confidence. "See you guys later."

"Good luck!" Barbara wishes as she and Vidalia watch him go.

* * *

Greg walks along the beach, and eventually finds the temple Vidalia was talking about; surrounding it was an old fence with a rusted Keep Out sign. Greg walks up to the fence, not seeing a visible latch to open, the young man takes a deep breath. "You can do this." He climbs over the fence and lands back on the ground; and begins to make his way to the temple.

"Hey!" A commanding voice shouts, causing Greg to freeze in place. He looks up and sees a tall woman, sitting on a ledge by the cliff side. She had square afro hair, a translucent blue visor revealing three eyes, and sported a brawler like attire. She also had a gemstone on her left palm. "The sign says, 'Keep Out.'"

She honestly intimidated the young man, but he tried to not show it. "Um… hello… my name is, Greg Universe… do you… know someone here named, Rose Quartz?"

She just stayed quiet.

"… because, I wanted to ask her a question."

The woman leaps off the ledge and walks over to Greg without saying a word. She picks up Greg with relative ease.

"Hey, what are you…"

"Human's should stay on the other side of the fence like the sign says." Greg begins struggling as the woman is about to toss him.

"WAIT!" Blue runs out from the temple. "Don't throw him, Garnet."

The woman named Garnet looks up at Greg then turns to Blue. "Why, do you know this human?"

"Sort of; Rose, Carnelian and I met him last night on the beach, his name is Mr. Universe."

Garnet looks up at Greg. "I thought you said your name was Greg Universe."

"It is," Greg answered honestly, trying to keep calm. "Mr. Universe is just a stage name. It's used to get more people to get more people to come to my shows."

"Okay, Greg Universe, what are you doing here?" Blue asks.

"Hello to you too, I wanted to ask Rose a question."

"What kind of question?"

"It's one I'd like to ask her in person, is she here?"

"Anything you want to tell Rose, you can tell me."

"Blue, what's going on." Rose interrupts, as she and Carnelian exit the temple, her eyes widen upon seeing Garnet holding Greg. "Mr. Universe!"

"Oh, uh… hello again, Rose!"

"What are you doing here?"

"His name is actually Greg Universe; Mr. Universe is a "stage name" as he called it." Garnet states. "And he says he's here to ask you a question."

"You can put Mr. - I mean Greg Universe down."

Garnet obliges to her leader's request and sets him back down on his feet.

"Thank you, Garnet." The young man thanks the tall woman, who ignores him.

"I'm sorry about Garnet; she's always been… overprotective." Rose apologizes.

"It's okay."

"So, what did you want to ask Rose?" Carnelian asks interruptingly.

"Oh, right." Greg takes a moment to regain himself. "I wanted to ask if you wanted to… go out with me."

Rose blinks, not understanding what he means. "Go out with you?"

"Uh, yeah… if you want to… that is." Greg says, a little bit embarrassed.

Blue looks up with an expression of realization. "I believe Greg Universe is asking you out on a date. A human term, referring to when a male or female wants to spend time with someone they wish to be romantically involved with."

Greg's face flushes bright red at Blue's summary.

"Huh, I didn't know humans can change color." Carnelian naively says.

"You, wish to be romantically involved with me?" Rose asks.

Greg had no idea how to answer, a part of him wanted to say yes, but he just met her last night. "Well… I… Uh… maybe… I don't know… maybe see how it goes… before deciding?" Greg suggests bashfully.

"I think this "date," sounds fun." Rose cheerily accepts.

Greg exhales a breath of relief.

"So how does it work," Rose asks Blue, she must have picked up more on regular terms than the others.

"Most common dates that I'm aware of involving one of three activities: Eating at an expensive restaurant, going to a motion picture, or dancing." Blue lists off.

"We usually don't go to the motion pictures, and don't eat; well except for Carnelian, but dancing sounds fun."

"Alright then, so what time is good for you… to go dancing?" Greg asks.

Before Rose could answer, Garnet, closes all three of her eyes for second, then quickly tells them. "It looks like we're clear for a while."

"Thank you, Garnet." Rose thanks her friend. "We can do it now if you wish, the beach is clear the weather is beautiful out."

"Now sounds great." Greg agrees. "I just need to grab some things and I'll be right back."

Greg leaves to grab something from his van, as he sees the four women return to the temple.

* * *

Sometime later, Greg waits at the beach with a new pair of clothes on; long blue jeans, a fancy-black shirt, and a leather pilot jacket, given to him by his cousin; which he considers his good luck charm.

"Hello, Greg Universe." Greg turned around and saw Rose, she removed her armor, revealing more of her elegant white dress. Still looking as beautiful.

Greg sees Blue next to her, holding a tape recorder and a portable speaker set. She stops to set the equipment down.

The tall pink haired woman walks up to Greg, who was still in awe of her beauty. "Wow, you look amazing."

"Why thank you, you don't look bad yourself."

Greg silently chuckles to himself, accepting the compliment.

Blue continues to fiddle with the equipment, then places a tape into the device, and hits play; before leaving the two of them. A familiar tune then catches Greg's ear; Elvin Bishop's "Fooled Around and Fell in Love."

"Elvin Bishop, your friend has a good taste in music." Greg takes a deep breath and offers his hand to Rose. "Shall we."

"Of course, Greg Universe." Rose accepts the young man's hand as they begin slow dancing.

"You don't have to keep calling me Greg Universe, most people just call me Greg."

"Okay, Greg. Blue told me that, a topic of discussion during "dates," is to talk to the other about themselves."

"Yeah, but there's nothing interesting about me, except being a rock star."

"Well, why did you want to become a "rock star?"

"I've kind of always enjoyed music, even when I was younger, and wanted to compose and share my own music with the world."

"That sounds nice."

The two of them continue to dance to the song, Greg looks up at Rose. "What about you, what's your story?"

"Well, I and the others aren't from around here."

"You mean Beach City?"

"No. I mean, not from this planet."

Greg's blinks in slight surprise at what the pink-haired woman said. "Wait, are you saying… that you're an alien?"

"Yes."

"Well… that's really cool."

"You're not, bothered by this?"

"Nope, the possibility of life outside of Earth has always fascinated me ever since I was a kid. And now, I'm on a date with someone from outer space." Greg says ecstatically, before silently adding. "Now I know how Captain Kirk feels."

"I don't understand the reference." Rose honestly states.

"I'll explain it to you some other time."

The two of them continued to dance on the beach as the sun sets in the distance.

* * *

Later that night, Greg and Rose walk back to the temple, the two of them enjoyed their wonderful time together. "I really loved tonight, Rose."

"Me too, Greg."

Greg quietly yawned into his hand. "Sorry, I guess I'm a little tuckered out."

"Right, you human's need sleep."

"Yeah, so I guess this is goodbye, for now, maybe we'll meet again tomorrow or something."

"That would be lovely."

"Well, goodnight, Ms. Rose Quartz."

Rose leans in and gives Greg a kiss on the cheek, catching him off guard.

"Goodnight, Mr. Universe."

Greg watched as the pink-haired woman left, his face blushing red. With only one word coming to mind right now as he walks back to his van.

"Whoa."

* * *

"Wow," Steven says starry-eyed from Greg's story.

"Wow" is the perfect word to sum it up," Carnelian says as she quickly devours two more slices of pizza.

"Greg and Rose were a match made in heaven." Blue states. "There love and dedication to each other was beautiful and pure." She looks over at Steven, giving him a small smile. "And continues to live on."


	5. Chapter 5: The Message

It was a beautiful day out on the beach; Steven was spending time with his best friend Connie, the two kids telling each other about what they have done since they last saw each other. Steven was telling Connie about his first mission with Blue; Connie was completely enthralled listening to Steven's fantastical story; it was like one of her fantasy novels, except in real life.

"Wow, Steven. Everything in your life is so awesome and magical." Connie tells her friend enthusiastically. "The most exciting thing in my life is tennis practice."

"I like tennis," Steven says trying to be cute, gets a slight chuckle out of Connie.

"So, when do you go on another mission?"

"Don't know really, Garnet says things have been really calm lately; no big retrieval missions, monster hunts, or anything of the like."

"How does she know when...?" Connie snapped her fingers. "Does Garnet have clairvoyance or something?"

"No, but she does have future vision." Steven and Connie stop in their track, Steven slaps his forehead, realizing what he just said.

"Garnet has future vision!" Connie says excitedly with her eyes bright as stars.

"You weren't supposed to know that."

"Well, Garnet is the type that likes to keep to herself most of the time, only revealing certain things about her to people she trusts."

"Does not want to be bombarded with a ton of questions about the future, right?"

"Yes."

"That makes sense. If you don't mind me asking, how does future vision work?"

"That's a tough one to explain, but from what I understand of it, she clears her mind; letting it drift into what she likes to call her "Astral Plane," giving her sight of what may happen or may not happen… and that's the best way to sum it up without going into too much detail."

"Being able to see into the future must be helpful when you're the leader of the team, right?"

"Yep, she used it to help find the artifacts and who should go with who for best results. Carnelian went with Garnet to a mountain region, where they said there was a great thunderstorm in their way. Electricity manipulation is very useful during one of those."

"Did they find anything interesting?"

"A bunch of Gem relics like pottery and some old weapons. Carnelian told me there was an ax the size of a house there." Steven extends his arms outwards for emphasis.

The two kids continue to talk as they walked along the beach, eventually coming to the temple, where they find an idle Lion outside. As well as Blue sitting on one of the patio chairs, listening to music while sketching something on her pad. The Pearl turns her head and notices the two of them. "Oh, hello Steven." She turns and sees Connie with him. "You must be Miss Connie. Steven's told us about you." Blue gets up to greet her properly. Lion looks up and greets them with a tired yawn.

"And you must be Blue, Steven's guardian. It's nice to meet you."

Steven turns to the feline on the ground. "Hey, Lion; don't worry, this is my friend Connie." Connie waves at the pink lion, slightly nervous.

Lion looks over at Connie with tired eyes and just plops back on to the ground, fast asleep.

"He's a bit lazy."

Steven and Connie look around the Temple, not noticing the other two Crystal Gems. Blue notices and answers their unasked questions. "If you're wondering where Garnet and

Carnelian are, they are within the temple, still sorting through the artifacts they collected. Making sure to not miss anything important."

Suddenly, an ear-piercing sound reverberates throughout the area; breaking the windows of the house and Connie's glasses. Steven, Blue, and Connie put their hands over their ears in pain, Lion whimpers from the noise and buries his head in the sand.

"Get it out of the house now!" Garnet shouts as she and Carnelian quickly carry out a large stone bell, where the deafening sound was resonating.

"What is that? Steven shouts over the loud noise. Both him and Connie scream in pain, unable to stand the sound.

"Hang on!" The Pearl rushes over to the bell and bubbles it, silencing the noise. "Didn't think that would work, now what's go…"

The bubble holding the sound grows bigger and bigger until the bubble pops. The trapped sonic blasts push the Crystal Gems back, and the noise returns with a far more violent volume.

"That's it!" Carnelian frustratingly shouts as she morphs her hands into shovels and buries the bell under a ton of sand; the noise continues resonating but dies down to the point where everyone can remove their hands from their ears.

Everyone takes a breath. "Are you guys all right?" Garnet checks on everyone, her eyes showing deep concern through her cracked visor.

Steven's ears were still ringing but was physically fine, same with Connie too. Lion takes his head out of the sand and shakes his head in annoyance. "We're okay, Garnet." Steven turns to his friend. "You okay Connie?"

"Don't worry Steven. I'm fine." Connie assures him, before noticing the large cracks in her glasses. "Oh no. Mom's going to kill me."

"I'm sorry." Steven apologizes, feeling a bit bad.

"It's okay Steven, right now I want to know what the heck that was."

"That was a wailing stone." Garnet answers. "Rose, I, and other Crystal Gems used these to communicate across the planet. We thought they were all gone, but Carnelian and I found this one; it was really banged up, and I was sure it didn't work anymore."

"Bad call on your part, Boss." Carnelian quips trying to stop the ringing in her own ears.

"I'm not in the mood for any sass Carnelian. And more importantly, whenever a wailing stone does something like this; that means it's picking up a message from another one." Garnet clarifies.

"But I thought all remaining stones were gathered?" Blue points out.

"Some were lost and couldn't be found even with my…" Garnet looks over and forgot about Connie in the group. "…abilities. Chances are, the message could be from one of those stones. It's not coming through due to how damaged this one is, hence the noise. We need to decipher it if we want to stop it."

"How do we decipher it without going deaf in the process?" Carnelian questions, as she piles more sand on top of the stone.

"We'll need to tune out the static and audio," Blue suggests.

"Audio," Steven says to himself, then snaps his fingers as an idea comes to him.

"Yeah." Connie reaches into her back pocket and gives Steven the small device, luckily the screen was not harmed, so it should be able to work.

Steven dials a number into the keypad. "I know someone who could help us out."

The boy waits for a couple of seconds until the receiving end gets online. "Hello, this is "It's a Wash," Greg Universe speaking."

"Hey Dad, it's me."

"Oh, hey kiddo. I'm about to close for the day; what do you need."

"I'm on the beach with them Gems, they need help deciphering a message, and we were wondering; do you have any old audio equipment we could use?"

"I think I have something in my old storage unit. I'll drop by to pick it up, and head over to the house ASAP."

"Thanks, Dad, you're the best. Oh, and can you bring some earplugs too, just to be safe."

"Earplugs. What for?"

"Trust me, you're going to need them."

"All right, I'll see you soon then." Greg hangs up the phone on his end and Steven his.

* * *

Greg's van stops by the house a half-hour later. "I got here as fast as I could…" Greg pauses, seeing all the windows of the beach house, broken and the muffled noise from the buried wailing stone. "What happened! And what is that sound, and where is it coming from?"

"It's kind of our fault." Garnet stoically admits. "But we'll get them fixed later. Do you have the equipment we need?"

"It's in the back." Greg walks over to the back of his van and opens the door. Greg, with Blue's help, carefully take out the old audio equipment. "Careful." The two of them unload the last piece of technology out of the van. "All right, so what are we deciphering?"

"This." Garnet shovels some sand off the wailing stone the ear-piercing sound returning. The sound cracks the windows on Greg's van and causes everyone on the beach puts their hand over their ears in pain.

"Dad! Did you bring the earplugs?" Steven asks loudly, trying to talk over the wailing stone.

"Yes! They're still in the van!" Greg answers.

Steven rushes to Greg's van and finds a box of earplugs, he sticks one into each ear and passes them around to everyone else. The earplugs block out the wailing stone just enough for everyone else to be able to hear each other.

"Are you guys still all right!" Steven asks everyone.

"We're good, thank you, Steven!" Connie answers back.

"Okay, can some please tell me what just happened!" Greg asks.

"This a wailing stone!" Garnet answers. "They're Gem artifacts used for long-distance communication! The sound it's giving off is a message from elsewhere, we need help understanding what the message is."

"Okay! I'll see what I can do." Greg says unsure, never having to work with a Gem artifact before. "But first, let's tone it down." Greg grabs a large, sponge-like microphone and sticks it into the wailing stone's top hole, finally silencing it.

The entire group lets out a sigh, feeling relieved as they pull out their earplugs.

"Oh, thank the Stars and the Moon Goddess; it finally stopped," Carnelian says with blissful joy.

"Never thought I'd have another use for the Lubitz Cardioid Condenser 680 again." Greg jokingly admits.

"Well thank the Moon Goddess for creating… whatever it is you just said."

"Alright guys, let's hook up the rest of the equipment and get deciphering."

Blue, Garnet, Steven, and Connie help Greg attach different devices to the stone when Garnet Notices Carnelian leaving. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Oh, I'm going to get the giant ax," Carnelian states in an obvious tone. "If this doesn't work, I'm hacking that fancy bell to bits; message or no."

"We could use your help here actually, electricity manipulation and all of that," Greg tells the scarlet Gem. "Also, there will be no hacking anything with a giant axe while I'm here, young lady."

"Okay. And I was joking about the ax." Carnelian grouses as she helps the rest of them.

"Thank you, and you know I was joking too. Just a bit of fatherly humor."

"Yeah, I know old man." Carnelian jokes back as she attaches the remaining devices to the stone.

"And that should do it." Greg walks over back to his van, adjusting knobs and dials on the speakers. "Power her up."

Carnelian summons her shock-whips, using their electrical energy to power the devices.

"Everything's looking good, nice work Carney! I'm going to add some reverb, low octave effects, and fuzz. Now if I directly input the wailing stone and put it through some filtering, we might get what you're looking for. Here goes nothing."

Greg continues adjusting the knobs and dials of the audio equipment, fine-tuning the volume and static; they continue altering the sound until they could hear something; eventually picking up as static sounding "-lo."

"Turn it back a little, I thought I heard something," Connie tells them.

Greg turns the dials back just a bit. "And… I think… we… got it."

"Hello… to any… o-o-o-o-n-ne on Earth, my nam-m-m-m-me is Lap-p-p-p-p-p-pis-s-s-s-s-s-s L-a-a-azul-l-l-l-l-li of the C-C-C-C-C-C-Crystal Gems…" Garnet stepped back, hearing the name, her eyes wide with shock. "…Ro-o-o-o-o-o-o-ose, if-f-f-f-f you're there, I need hel-l-l… there are t-t-t-t-t-t-t-two… pursuing me. I am loca-a-a-a-a… Pr-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-ime Kindergarten. I've be-e-e-e-e-e-en back… Earth weeks, and ha-a-a-a-a-a-ave been hiding from th… plea-a-a-a-a-a-a-se hurry… H… m…w…" The message cuts to static, and then nothing, as the wailing stone stops pulsating and dies.

"Sorry, guys that's all I could get." Greg informs and apologizes to them.

Before anyone could say anything, the group hears laughter, mixed with a bit of crying; coming from Garnet. To everyone's surprise.

"I knew it! I knew she was alive." Garnet says wiping the tears of joy from her eyes.

"Who's Lapis?" Steven asks the usually stoic Gem.

"She's one of the original Crystal Gems," Garnet answers, regaining her composure. "She went MIA on a mission. We went looking for her, but couldn't find a trace of her, we all assumed she was…" Garnet pauses for a moment. "I knew she was alive; even when I couldn't see her, I still held out hope." She walks up to Greg and shakes his hand. "Thank you for everything, Greg."

"It was nothing." Greg accepts the thanks, feeling a bit bashful from her praise.

Garnet turns away from the group and heads back for the house.

"Where are you going?" Carnelian asks.

"I'm going to the Prime Kindergarten; I'm bringing Lapis home."

"Alone?" Blue questions her leader. "You're a tough Gem, Garnet, but your friend sounds like she's in real danger. What happens if it's too much for you."

"I'm familiar with yours and Carnelian's feelings towards kindergartens; I don't want to drag you along if you don't want to come."

"We're a team, and are not going to let you go alone," Blue tells the leader Gem, with Carnelian nodding in agreement. "We'll come with you."

"Alright let's go," Steven says enthusiastically, running towards Garnet; but Blue grabs the back of his shirt, stopping him.

"You're sitting this one out, Steven," Blue tells the young Half-Gem.

"What, why?"

"The kindergarten is… something you're not ready for yet."

"I'd have to agree with Blue." Greg pitches in. "Rose told me about that place once… it's really heavy."

"Come on, I'm made of tough stuff. Whatever it is I can handle it." Steven says with self-confidence and slight stubbornness.

"Steven's a Crystal Gem too." Garnet intervenes. "And as you said before, Steven is going to learn about stuff like this eventually."

"Yes. But he's still a kid." Blue tells her leader. "And should have that right, for as long as he can."

"Blue. I'll be fine, I can handle whatever it is." Steven says holding her hand. "Trust me."

Blue looks down at the boy and lets out a sigh. "Okay, Steven." Before she turns attention back to Garnet. "But at the first sight he can't handle this, I'm bringing him back here."

Garnet silently nods. "Alright. Now let's get moving." Garnet makes her way to the warp pad ahead of everyone else.

"Hold on, let's bring some extra protection with us," Steven says to Blue as he turns to face Lion. "Hey, Lion! We could use your help with this one!"

The pink feline gets up off the ground and yawns, licking his chops before walking over to Steven.

"I still don't like this idea." Greg says honestly.

"Don't worry, I'll look out for him like always," Carnelian promises, giving her father-figure a quick goodbye hug. Even though she had some concern in her voice.

Steven walks up to Greg giving him a quick hug too. "Thank you for all your help."

Steven walks over to Connie and gives her a handshake. "I guess I'll see after the mission."

Connie accepts it with a smile, showing confidence in Steven. "Good luck and see you soon."

After saying his goodbyes, Steven and Lion quickly dash to the other Gems, waiting on the warp pad.

Greg watches as his son leaves and quietly says. "Be careful."

* * *

 **Note: This chapter and the next were originally supposed to be one, but it did not flow well and became too long, so I have the other half saved as a separate chapter and will work on it. Also, depending on how the next chapter goes, the rating may change to T.**

 **Another Note: I just want to thank everyone that is following, favoring, and posting reviews on my story. I am glad you all like it and I hope you stick around for what is to come.**


	6. Chapter 6: The Return

The warp pad glows brightly as it teleports the Crystal Gems to the Prime Kindergarten; Steven feels queasy again, still not used to being teleported from one place to another at what feels like the speed of light.

"You all right, bro?" Carnelian asks, holding Steven upwards for support.

"I'm fine now, thank you," Steven assures her, taking a deep breath. The young boy looks around, taking in the location; a vast, foggy canyon riddled with many holes, and an unsettling atmosphere that shook him to the bone; there was something wrong with this place, so very wrong. "So, this is the Prime Kindergarten?"

"Yes." Blue places her hand on Stevens' shoulder. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, Blue." Steven tries assuring her and himself. "I can do this, let's find Lapis." Steven steps off the warp pad, and the queasy feeling in his stomach returns. He did not know if it was the warp pad or this place. "Okay, maybe need to take it slow."

Lion walks up to Steven and lies down, giving Steven permission to ride on his back. "Oh, thank you boy." Steven gratefully climbs on the pink lions back.

"Alright, follow my lead." Garnet orders as she and the other Gems leap off the warp pad; following the leader Gem through the canyon, with Steven and Lion staying close to the group.

Steven looks around as the group passes by large, drill-like devices. After a while, Steven saw the holes in the canyon wall looked human shaped. "I can understand why Garnet didn't want to drag you guys along if you didn't want to." Steven nervously says. "But what is this place exactly; it feels like a…"

"…Nightmare." Carnelian bitterly finishes for him. Her resentment was not towards Steven but to their environment. "This place is a living nightmare, one that you can never truly wake from."

"Horrible things happened here a long time ago."

"Just being here... is bringing back memories we would all like to forget."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel that way." Steven apologizes, with a low tone.

"There is no need to apologize; you didn't know." Blue understandingly assures him.

Steven looks at and notices she does not have Rose's sword with her. "You left Mom's sword at home?"

"I don't think it will be needed." Blue states. "I still have yet to become a master of it, and its weight counteracts with my style of fighting."

"I guess that makes sense."

The four Gems continue through the unsettling canyon, passing by more drills and human-shaped holes until they find a forking path: one to the left and the other to the right. "Which way, Boss?" Carnelian asks, looking down both routes.

Garnet stands as still and silent as a statue, her eyes closed as she uses her future vision. She opens her eyes after a few seconds and points to the left path. "This way." The Gems follow their leader down the left path, continuing to pass by more of the same. Even though they have walked past dozens of drills and hundreds of holes, it was still unsettling. Steven looks over at their leader. "Hey, Garnet."

"Yes, Steven." The leader asks the young Gem, still focusing on the path ahead.

"I was wondering, who is Lapis exactly; I know she's a Crystal Gem, but I mean besides that?"

"Well, Lapis was one of the Crystal Gems founders; along with Rose and me. She's been with us even before Blue or Carnelian joined up. She was also the only Gem aside from Rose, who I had a strong connection with; we always trained together, fought together, and was someone I could open up to about my personal feelings."

"Lapis is to you, kind of how Connie is to me," Steven suggested based on what he heard.

"Yes, that would sum up our relationship," Garnet says with a slight blush, hinting more to their relationship than she is letting on.

Before Steven could say anything more, Lion stops and starts snarling lowly. "What is it, boy?" Steven asks, dismounting the feline. An echo of what sounds like footsteps heard by the rest of them.

"Something's coming this way, get your weapons ready," Garnet instructs summoning her gauntlets. Steven quickly summons his shield; as Blue draws her swords and Carnelian her shock-whip.

The Crystal Gems stand ready for what is coming towards them, discovering it to be a young woman; with dark-blue skin, and blue hair with a blue beach dress and reflective mirror-like eyes with no pupils. "Who's there?"

Garnet deactivates her weapons and runs towards the stranger, with slight tears in her eyes seen through her visor. "Lapis!"

The blue girl looks over where the voice came from, recognizing it. "Garnet?"

The warrior Gem embraces the blue girl with an emotional hug, and Lapis hugs her in return. Steven gets a bit misty-eyed seeing the usually tough Gem, like this. "Garnet. It's really you." Lapis says with a saddened, yet relieved voice. With tears coming from her mirror-like eyes.

"Yes, it's me Lapis." Garnet breaks from the hug to check on her friend. "Lapis, what happened to you? We all went searching for you when you didn't report back, we all thought you were… and your eyes… there…"

"About my eyes, I got into an accident." Lapis turns around, revealing a cracked, blue teardrop gemstone on her back. "Everything else is a long story, which I'll be happy to tell once Rose works her magic. Oh man, everyone's probably concerned about me: Bismuth, Snowflake, Biggs, Crazy Lace, and the Nephrites; all of them must be worried sick."

Garnet's joyful expression turns to a gloomy one after Lapis listed off the Gem names. "Lapis…" Garnet started but stops herself.

The rest of the Gems walk up to Garnet and Lapis, wanting to greet himself to Lapis. "Um, hello Miss Lazuli. My name is Steven Universe. I'm a Crystal Gem too." The young boy introduces himself, with a slight bow.

Lapis looks over at Steven, with a bit of curiosity. "A human? Since when do you bring humans onto missions. Must have been Rose's idea. Well, if he can fight, then I don't see the problem." She then turns to Carnelian. "A Carnelian. I guess we could use more soldiers." And finally, to Blue, which did not get the best of reactions. "What is she doing here?" Lapis shouts with hostility, before turning to Garnet. "You captured her Pearl! How did you even…"

"What is she talking about?" Steven asks, concerned about the other blue Gem's tone.

"Blue is not our prisoner, she's a Crystal Gem." Garnet tries assuring Lapis.

"She's the Pearl of that tyrant, why would she join the Crystal Gems? In fact, why would Rose even let her, after everything that She did to all of us!"

"What are you guys even talking about?" Carnelian asks the group, with as much worry as Steven.

"I'm not Her Pearl anymore." Blue quietly says, her expression unreadable behind her thick bangs; though she tightly clenched her fists.

"We'll explain everything later," Garnet promises the blue Gem, slowly standing up offering her body for support. "Right now, let's just get you out of here and back to the Temple so we…"

"We can't go back to the Temple!" Lapis warns them.

"What are you talking about? We came all the way to this place to get you, and now you don't want to come." A slightly annoyed Carnelian questions, wanting to get out of this place.

"The rest of my message must've not gone through. I contacted you via waling stone to warn you. They've come back to Earth."

"What!" Garnet shouts with pure shock in her tone, as all three of her eyes widen.

Steven and Carnelian look at each other in confusion and worry about who "they" are. A bright, green light in the distance catches Steven's eye. Looking at, the light grows larger and brighter, then hurls towards them like a miniature comet of green-electricity. "Look out!" Steven leaps in front everyone and activates his shield, just before the bright sphere of energy collides with them. Even with the Half-Gem's shield active, the sheers force of the attack scatters the Crystal Gems.

Steven slowly gets up off the ground; his body slightly bruised. "Is everyone all right?"

Carnelian gets up from behind him along with Lion, both slightly bruised. "Steven."

"Carnelian. Lion." Steven runs over to help his sister and pet. "Are you okay?"

"We're fine, bro. Hey Blue! Garnet! Lapis!"

"We're all right, Carnelian," Garnet answers, across from them as she helps, Blue and Lapis up.

"What was that?" Blue questions, parting her bangs and rubbing the dust out of her eyes.

"My targeting must be off, that should've poofed them." A snobbishly intellectual voice states.

"It doesn't matter, we have the prisoner in our sights." A gruffer, yet feminine voice replies.

Steven and the rest of the Gems turn to the owners of the voices.

The intellectual voice came from a green skinned woman with triangle hair and what appears to be armor around her arms and legs and a translucent light-yellow visor. She also sported jumpsuit with dark green and pink colors that covered her legs and entire torso. Within the center of her forehead was a green, triangular gemstone.

The gruff voice from an even taller and built woman with striped, pale orange skin, and a wild mane of hair like Carnelians. She sported a bodysuit a lot like her companion, but was a full dusky pink, with a short cloak that covers her chest and shoulders. She also had a gemstone by where her nose should be.

In the center of both of their uniforms were bright pink, diamond-shaped symbols.

"Took me long enough to get you." The taller, more intimidating Gem says aloud, before looking over at the Crystal Gems. "And you brought some uninvited guests."

The smaller, green Gem looks at her partner. "If your tone is any indication, they won't be staying that long."

"I have to say, I'm disappointed. Is this really all Rose could send, a little human who has no business being here. A defective embarrassment of a Carnelian. A renegade Pearl; you don't see many of those on the battlefield. And finally…" The orange Gem pauses upon seeing Garnet and gives the lead Crystal Gem a devious smile and laugh. "I'll be, you're still alive, Garnet."

"What are you doing here, Jasper?" Garnet questions as she quickly summons her gauntlets.

"You know her?" Carnelian loudly asks.

"Well, I guess introductions are in order, for the unfamiliar. As Garnet has already said, I am Jasper. And my little companion here is Peridot." Jasper introduces her partner.

"Peridot Facet-25L Cut-5XG to be more specific." The green Gem adds.

"And to answer your question, runt. Garnet and I have known each other for a long time." Jasper turns attention back to Garnet. "I thought for sure you and the rest of the rebels would be long gone; oh well, at least I get the chance to happily smash you into the ground."

"Which can be avoided, if you hand over the prisoner," Peridot states, looking over at Lapis.

"And why would we do that?" Carnelian stands ready to summon her weapon, along with Blue and Steven.

"Because Jasper will then just have to take her. Trust me when I say it won't end well for you. Furthermore, as our prisoner, she'll be treated fairly and won't be harmed as long as she cooperates with us."

"You're not going anywhere near Lapis!" Garnet enters her fighting stance, eyes burning with fire.

"I was hoping you'd say that." Jasper steps forward. "Peridot, send in the robanoids. Poof the prisoner and shatter the others. But Garnet is mine."

Garnet turns to the others. "All of you need to get out of here."

"What! We're not leaving without you!" Steven protests.

"Jasper isn't like a Gem Monster, she's far worse. You need…" Jasper charges and punches Garnet at a fast, near untraceable speed, slamming her into the canyon wall behind.

"Garnet!" the Crystal Gems scream in disbelief.

The warrior Gem recovers and retaliates by landing a hit on Jasper's face, forcing the larger Gem back, but was unfazed by the attack. "Earth's made you soft, I remember you being able to hit a lot harder than that." Jasper chuckles to herself, as she grabs Garnet's other arm and slams her on the canyon walls and ground repeatedly, creating cracks within the surface.

"Get away from her!" Carnelian spin-dashes towards the orange Quartz, her summoned shock-whips surrounding her body with electricity. Jasper throws Garnet aside and kicks the charging red Quartz into the air, like a kickball. Carnelian flies over Stevens' head and crashes into one of the drills.

"Carnelian!" Steven screams, running over to check on her. As Steven head over to her, several cone-shaped robots stand between them. The robanoids.

A drone turns its attention to Steven. A red energy glows from the front of the robots moving up and down his body, causing his rose quartz gemstones to glow. The drones' red "eye's" glow, a bright blue as the fire a bolt of energy at him. Steven summons his shield to deflect the energy blast of his drone, then throws it at his mechanical opponent, destroying it.

The two drones appear behind Steven, while he had his shield lowered; preparing to fire their blasts at him, only for Blue to cut them down with her swords. Lion pounces one of the robanoids and crushes it with his strong jaw. Lapis finds a nearby slab of stone and smashes it across another robanoid, destroying it. Carnelian recovers from her injury and flings her shock-whip at one of the remaining drones, wrapping around it and slamming it into the last one, destroying them. Before anyone could react, a blast of energy from Peridot strikes Lapis from behind, poofing her physical form.

"Lapis!" Steven shouts, as the green Gem carefully grabs the cracked, blue gemstone.

"Jasper, I have her! Let's go!" Peridot informs her partner as she begins leaving the area. Carnelians shock-whip wraps around Peridot's legs, tripping and dragging her to the owner of the weapon.

"You're not going anywhere!" Carnelian continues dragging the green Gem across the hard ground. Peridot prepares to fire another blast of energy from her hand at the red Quartz. Carnelian responds by flinging the enemy Gem into the air, causing her to miss. Jasper throws Garnet at Carnelian, knocking the two Gems aside and freeing Peridot; whose fingers begin rotating at fast speeds like a helicopter, keeping her airborne.

"Head back to the base, I'll meet up with you in a while!" Jasper orders. Peridot obliges and flies out of the area with her reclaimed prisoner.

"Lapis!" Garnet shouts as she sees Peridot take her friend. Garnet gets up and begins pursuing the green Gem, only for Jasper to stop her in her tracks.

"You're not running away from this." Jasper charges at Garnet, slamming her fist downwards. Garnet dodges the attack, then assaults Jasper with a flurry of powerful punches that push the orange Gem back. Jasper grabs Garnets hands, bringing the attack to a halt. "That's more like it." Jasper headbutts Garnet, destroying the Crystal Gems visor and blackening one of her eyes.

Jasper smirks as she gets closer to the injured Gem. Blue charges the large Quartz with her swords, the sudden attack from the Pearl catches her off guard and barely avoids the attack. Jasper grabs both blades with her hand, holding them in place. "Hm. Now that I think about it, you look rather familiar." Jasper snaps the blades in half with her strength and uppercuts Blue. Garnet grabs Jasper from behind, and body slams her into the ground; she kicks the large Quartz away and puts some distance between her and Blue, giving them time to recover.

Jasper gets up from the ground at an alarming rate. She cracks her neck and stretches her arms, shaking off the injuries like they were nothing. The orange Gem glares at Blue, with a look of realization and some personal glee. "I remember you now… you were Her Pearl. And you've aligned yourself with them!" Jasper chuckles to herself. "I guess She must've not mattered to you that much."

As soon as Jasper said that, Blue clenches her fist and scowls at Jasper with anger in her eyes. She quickly dashes towards the Quartz with breathtaking speed, slashing at her with emotion filled strikes.

"Oh, did I hit a nerve." Jasper taunts as she dodges the attack, and kicks Blue in the stomach, knocking her to the ground. "I've always seen Rose and Garnet as the embarrassments to Homeworld." Jasper kicks the downed Gem to the side once more, before picking her up by the neck. "But the real disgraces to the empire, are Pearls who abandons their Diamond." Jasper slams Blue into the ground with enough force, that it poofs her physical form. Leaving nothing but a gemstone on the ground.

"Blue!" Steven shouts as he runs over to retrieve her gemstone. Jasper raises her foot over Blue's gemstone and prepares to crush. "No!" Steven gets in between them and activates his shield on instinct, pushing Jasper back.

Jasper looks up at Steven. "Wait… that shield… there's only one Gem with that…" Jasper pauses for a moment. "It's you. The mighty Rose Quartz. And you're disguised as a little human. How shameful. No matter, my Diamond is going to be pleased when I pre..." Garnet sucker punches Jasper, sending her crashing into a drill, which collapses on top her.

"We need to go now!" Garnet orders. Steven picks up Blue's gemstone and starts running to the warp pad. Jasper angrily lifts the drill off her and pursues them.

Lion runs up to the Crystal Gems and forces them onto his back. "Lion, what are you…" Before Steven could finish, Lion's eyes glow bright pink and let out a roar, creating a portal in front of them. Lion runs through with the Gems at his top speed and closes it behind them; leaving Jasper behind.

* * *

Connie and Greg were patiently waiting outside the beach house for the Crystal Gems return. Lion's portal opens on the beach startling the two of them, as Steven and the other emerge, roughed up with defeated looks on their faces. "Steven." Connie and Greg rush over to the Gems who dismount from Lion. "What happened?"

"We… failed." Steven quietly says to himself.

Greg looks around and notices the Blue is not with them. "Where's Blue?"

Steven silently shows his father Blue's gemstone in his hands. Connie leans over to look, before turning her attention back to Steven. "Is she…"

"She'll be fine," Carnelian informs her. "Gems can disperse their physical forms whenever they take too much damage, we just call it poofing. It helps them heal."

"This is all my fault," Garnet says, getting everyone's attention. "I should have never brought you along, put you in danger like that."

"Garnet, don't blame yourself for this." Steven walks over to reassure her.

"I was so focused on using my future vision to find Lapis, that I didn't take the time to make sure everything was safe. Because of that, I lost Lapis again, and Blue almost died."

"But she didn't, she'll be all right." Steven looks back at the gemstone, then to Garnet. "We'll get Lapis back, and find out what Jasper and Peridot are doing here." The young boy holds Garnet's hand with strong belief, getting a small smile from the Gem.

"But we do have one question." Carnelian steps in. "What did Lapis, and Jasper mean when they called Blue 'Her Pearl?'"

Garnet looks down at the two of them and sighs. "I'm afraid it's not my place to answer that question. It's something Blue will have to tell you. But for now, we leave this be. We can't deal with Jasper and Peridot now, but once we are ready, we'll go after them. For now, you two take some rest; you deserve it." Garnet leaves the group to have time to think to herself.

Steven looks back to the gemstone: Carnelian, Connie, and Greg, all worried for Blue. With Steven left wondering about Blues past and why she was called 'Her Pearl.'


	7. Chapter 7: Diamonds and Pearls Part 1

Blue watched the stars pass by from the ships observation deck. Sitting on a dark-blue throne was her Diamond, the lustrous Blue Diamond. Towering over the Pearl, Blue Diamond wore a dark-blue shroud that covered her from head to toe. She also had long flowing white hair and fair blue skin. Within the center of her chest was a fine cut azure colored diamond.

Blue was not here watching the stars by choice; she always went where ever her Diamond went. Not that she would mind, however. After serving her Diamond for centuries, she eventually acquired the same tastes as her; whether it came to the empires politics, her Diamond's natural born architectural talents, or just viewing the natural beauties of the universe. Blue enjoyed being present for all of them.

The main doors to the observation deck open from behind them, Blue and her Diamond turn around to see who it is. Entering the room was another Pearl, except this one was pink. She wore similar attire to all Homeworld Pearls, like ballerinas of a singular color with only slight differences that made them stand apart. This had a knee-length dress with elbow length gloves and angular, spiky hair. Just like Blue, her gemstone was on her chest. "Pardon the intrusion, your grace." The Pearl said with a happy sounding, carefree yet formal tone. "But we have arrived at the colony, and your sister wishes to see you."

Blue steps back as her Diamond rises from her throne and turns the other Pearl. "Thank you for informing me. I'll meet with her at once." Blue Diamond says with a soft, elegant voice that you would never expect from someone of her stature.

Pink Pearl bows gratefully towards the monarch. "Thank you, your grace. You'll find my Diamond in the control room, overlooking the planet; you wish for me to accompany you, or…"

"You are dismissed and may return to your Diamond."

"Yes, your grace." The Pearl gives one final bow as she leaves happily.

Blue follows behind her Diamond as they leave to speak with her sister.

Blue Diamond was very annoyed by that pink Pearls happy-go-lucky attitude, but would never say anything; each of the Diamonds had their own ways of running their Court: Blue Diamond's Court revolved around formality, elegance, and respect for your superiors. Yellow Diamond's Court was a more militant in behavior. Never question, just obey. As for Pink Diamond, she had a long way to go. Pink Diamond was the youngest member of the Diamond Authority, the undisputed leaders of the empire. Pink was a kind, gentle Gem who always found a way to bring smiles to the faces of others. However, she lacked the discipline needed to be an effective leader that Homeworld will need one day; which is why Blue Diamond happily joined her on the colonization of her first planet. Earth. It was a small planet, but it was rich with resources, perfect for a first colony.

* * *

Blue and her Diamond enter the control room, where Pink Diamond shapeshifted her height to be around the size of a Quartz; so, she could sit in the captain's chair and look at the beautiful blue ball that would soon be hers. Pink Diamond turned the chair around and notices her older sister. "Blue." Pink shapeshifts back into her normal form, a one-piece set of clothing that covered her legs and torso, but left her arms and shoulders bare. Her hair was spiky and angular, but sharper looking. Her gemstone was on her stomach, a fine cut diamond like Blue Diamond's. She gives her sister a big hug. "Oh, thank you again for doing this along with me, and finding such a lovely planet. You can't imagine how happy I am."

"You are very welcome, my dear sister." Blue hugs her sister back.

One of the ship's pilots, an Emerald, turns around from her chair and addresses Blue Diamond. "My Diamond, we found a suitable location to land the ship, we'll land as soon as you give the order."

Blue Diamond breaks from the hug and turns to the Emerald and orders her formally. "Permission granted." While Pink continues to quietly squeal under her breath. "I'm so excited."

* * *

The ship lands on a firm patch of land where green was seen for miles ahead. The main hull opens, and Pink Diamond is the first to step out, along with her Pearl and two of Blue Diamond's Amethyst guards. "Everything is so beautiful, look at all the colors, the ground is so firm, yet so soft, the sky is so blue. It's perfect."

Blue Diamond could not help but smile at her sisters over enjoyment. "Feel free to explore the area Pink, but don't take too long, and make sure to keep your Pearl and my guards close."

"I will." Pink Diamond says as she continues strolling across the ground, admiring the beauty of everything along with her Pearl, and the Amethysts staying close by.

With Pink Diamond gone to explore, Blue Diamond turns back to her Gems, ready to give them orders. "All right, we'll be making our base here. Garnet!" Blue Diamond calls out, and a tall, three-eyed, warrior Gem rushed towards her Diamond and bows respectfully.

"How may I be of service, my Diamond." Garnet was an Imperial, a Gem handpicked by their respected Diamond to serve as a royal guard and is the most trusted soldier of their Court.

"I need you to take a squad of soldiers, Peridots, and Lapis Lazuli with you, and find a suitable area to be made into a kindergarten."

"Consider it done, my Diamond."

"Very good." Blue Diamond turns her attention to another one of her Gems, while Garnet goes to gather her squad. "Holly Blue!"

"Y…yes, my Diamond." Holly Blue Agate, an intimidating drill instructor who helps keep the soldiers in line, but turns fainthearted whenever in the presence of a Diamond.

"Unload the supplies and start building the base, I expect it to be done soon."

"Oh, of… of course, my Diamond." Holly Blue bows respectfully to the monarch, before turning to a group of Quartz soldiers. "Get those supplies unloaded now! Our Diamond wants this base built! Move it, soldiers!"

While the soldiers work on setting up the new base, Blue Diamond turns to her Pearl. "I want you to stay out here and record the progress. If Pink is to return and is looking for me; tell her, I'll be in the ships communications room to inform Yellow Diamond that we've arrived."

"Yes, my Diamond." Blue bows to her Diamond as she leaves, and takes out her data-pad, writing down and drawing everything she sees. Holly Blue continues to bark orders at the soldiers as they move equipment, and start forging the structure as fast as they can.

* * *

Several Earth days have gone by, and the structures were about a twelfth of the way complete, and a hardly any of the builders looked exhausted, Blue really should not be surprised by that, warrior and worker caste Gems have always had the more endurance than others. However, there was no sign of Garnet and her squad yet, hopefully, the new kindergarten will not be too long a journey from here. Blue was bored out of her mind just taking notes, even though she will follow her Diamonds order without question; she desperately wishes for someone else to give her a different order. No matter what it was.

"Oh, sister."

Blue, Agate and the other Quartzes all turned their heads in the direction of the voice. Pink Diamond has returned from her overextended stroll through the grasslands. Pink returned, along with her Pearl and Amethyst guards with that carefree grin spread across her face, carrying a fully grown, red tree slung over her shoulders. She stopped in place and looked around for Blue Diamond. "Sister?"

"All salute for the glimmering Pink Diamond!" Holly Blue ordered all the Gems. All the Gems give the young Diamond a salute, before returning to their work.

Blue walks up to the young Diamond and gives a respectful bow. "My apologies, your grace. But my Diamond wanted me to inform you, upon your return that she is within the communications room to inform Yellow Diamond of our arrival to your new colony."

"Aw, and I wanted to show her this before she had to go back to work." Pink Diamond pouted as she places the tree on the ground. "This is known as a cherry blossom tree. Isn't it beautiful?"

"I am sure my Diamond would love such a gift."

"Actually, I was asking for your opinion."

"Mine?" What Pink Diamond had said took Blue by surprise, usually, higher-ranking Gems do not concern themselves with the opinion of Gems like Pearls.

"Yes. I would like to know your opinion of the cherry blossom. It's okay, I don't bite."

Blue said aloud the first thing that came to her mind. "Well… I think… it's beautiful."

"I was thinking of having this planted somewhere near the base. Oh, Holly Blue."

The Agate turns to the young Diamond. "Y… yes, your grace?"

"I don't mean to be a bother, but could you spare a couple of your workers to help me plant this?"

"Oh, oh... of course your grace." Holly Blue smiled awkwardly and bowed before turning to two Amethysts. "You Two! Aid Pink Diamond in planting that tree, and once you are done, get back here ASAP!"

The two Amethysts saluted the Agate and ran over to Pink Diamond.

"Follow me, there's a spot where this would look lovely."

Blue watched as the Diamond frolicked away with her Pearl and Quartzes to plant the cherry blossom. Pink was so young, so naïve and so innocent; her sisters mean well, but she is nowhere near ready for the responsibilities she will soon be upholding.

* * *

Six-hundred years have passed, what would be several lifetimes to humans, would only feel like a handful of years to Gems.

The construction of the base was complete, but the great abundance of trees that surrounded the area was now gone, and the grass was no longer as green as it once was. The only pure form of life left in this area was the cherry blossom that Pink to extra caution in protecting.

Several temples were built in the name of Diamond Authority, spread across this entire region. One of which, the Lunar Sea Spire is Pink Diamonds favorite.

A great lake far from here that was scouted out by Garnet had been terraformed into a canyon to become a kindergarten. Due to it being Pink Diamonds first, she labeled it the Prime Kindergarten. Decades after setting up her first kindergarten, another was made within a desert region. She labeled that one the Beta Kindergarten. From both kindergartens, the first members of Pink Diamonds Court were born; they came into the world ready to serve their Diamond, some of her Gems came out flawlessly, others had some… complications.

Due to the lack of natural resources at the Beta Kindergarten, many of the gems born there came out "wrong." Nonetheless, they are able to serve their Diamond just like any other Gem, which is what matters to both them and Pink Diamond. Two of which Blue has met while her Diamond attended a meeting with her sister; they were happy to serve and ignore the ridicules of others:

The Rutile Twins: A Rutile born with conjoined bodies that act like one, with their own unique personalities. A large majority of Blue Diamond's upper-class Gems were all disgusted by their appearance, but just ignored the insults; what matters to them the most is serving their Diamond to the best of their abilities, a task they are well skilled in.

Padparadscha Sapphire: A young Sapphire who has delayed sapphiric future vision, a future vision only bestowed to Sapphires; unlike a Garnets future vision, which can only see days or a month into the future, a Sapphire with this future vision can see years or decades. Sapphires that lack this ability would be harvested and used to make a better Sapphire. However, Padparadscha was different. Even though she had no powers, she always found a way to bring joy to other Gems, much like her Diamond. Gems around Padparadscha would feel happiness and motivation.

They were able to start a friendship with Pink Diamond's Pearl, speaking with her whenever all three of them were off duty. Though it is considered improper for Gems like them to speak to a Diamond's Pearl, the way Pink runs her Court is her business. It may need some proper guidance in the future for when she expands beyond Earth, but for now, her current methods are working for her.

Then one Gem stood out from the rest. Powerful, beautiful, and caring. This Quartz was the first Gem ever given life by Pink Diamond, modeled in Pink Diamonds image; unique and the only Gem of her kind, as well as the first Imperial of the Court. The magnificent Rose Quartz.

Rose shared many of Pink Diamonds ideals; love for beauty, fairness, and equal respect for all Gem in their Courts and the preservation of life; both Gem and organic.

* * *

Blue and her Diamond enter Pink Diamonds quarters, she was sitting on her throne discussing something with her Pearl, the Rutile Twins and Padparadscha were with her. The Twins and the Sapphire looked different now, compared to when they were first given life; they were given proper Homeworld uniforms and altered their physical forms for more comfortability when performing their tasks. "Hello, Pink. May I kindly have a moment to speak with you?"

"Oh, of course, please come on in." Pink Diamond says with a carefree tone, even though she was holding a stable Court, she still did not take the responsibilities it holds seriously.

"My Diamond, I foresee your sister wishing to speak with you." Padparadscha innocently says a few seconds later. The Sapphire sported a pink colored gown that covers her whole body, and gloves that left the top of her hand exposed, revealing her gemstone. She made her hair shorter, so it would not get in the way.

"Thank you, Padparadscha." Pink Diamond smiles at the Sapphire, before turning to the Rutile Twins. "Rutile, would you and Padparadscha kindly step outside for the moment."

"Of course, my Diamond." The Twins say at the same time bowing respectfully. The Twins sported identical Homeworld uniforms, with an opening around the stomach, revealing their shared shard-shaped gemstone. The only difference between the two of them was the right Rutile had shorter hair, while the left one had shoulder length hair. "Come on Pads."

"We should leave, our Diamond wishes to be alone," Padparadscha says again with innocence as the Twins close the door behind them. Leaving only Blue Diamond, Pink Diamond and their Pearl's

"How may I help you sister?" Pink says as she adjusts her seat for more comfort.

"I'm here about a message I received from Yellow Diamond. She's concerned about the fact there are still organics on this planet after so long."

Pink's tone turned sour hearing this news. "For the love of…" Yellow's pickiness revolving the organ life on Earth annoyed Pink; she did not see the humans as a threat that deserved to be wiped out, and if they did attack, Pink would simply repel them off. "What is it with her and genocide?"

"Pink, you are aware of Homeworld's order. Inferior beings have no purpose in the universe and shouldn't walk on the same ground as us."

"The humans pose no threat to us, so why should they be exterminated? I am sure we can find a middle ground to stand with them."

"Are you suggesting peace? You can't make peace with organics; they can barely make peace with themselves as it is."

"Not unless we try. I have faith that it can be done."

"I have established enough colonies to know it cannot be done. Organics tend to loathe what they do not understand."

"They're not perfect, yes, but it doesn't mean they must die. In fact, why not make them servants to our cause? A couple of humans looked at me once, and claimed that I was a goddess."

"And all it takes is for one to disprove your divinity and it'll come crashing down. We may have the superior technology, but organics spread like weeds; they will eventually outnumber us on this planet, and our technology will mean nothing against those odds."

"My answer is still no. I will not commit a planet-wide extermination to beings that mean us no harm, based on pure speculation."

"Pink, these are our laws, and they state that the owner of a colony must eradicate all organic life before they can properly claim it as their own. If that Diamond refuses to do so, another will; in that process, they will then have that colony claimed as theirs. In other words, you can kill all the humans and keep your colony, or can have Yellow, or I do it and in the process, claim the planet. Of course, I won't do that you, but I can't say the same for Yellow."

Pink rose from her throne with anger in her eyes. "So, is that Yellows plan, threaten her baby sister with an ultimatum?" The infuriated Diamond turns to her Pearl. "Pearl! Contact Yellow Diamond, I have a few choice words I would like to say."

"Pink, don't. You'll be making a big mistake." Blue Diamond tries to stop her sister, but she refuses to listen.

"This is my colony and I will run it as I see fit. And I don't care if Yellow outranks me, I won't submit to her threats."

"Pink…"

Pink Diamond walks up to her sister and places her hand on her shoulder. "Blue, I know you mean well, but you told me once that each Diamond has their own rule; yours is elegance. Yellow Diamond rules through might. And I consider mine to be kindness. Trust me when I say I know what I'm doing."

Blue Diamond lets out a sigh and looks her little sister with a small smile. "You still have a long way to go, but you've grown so much since when we first arrived. I'll leave you for now."

The two Diamonds hug each other before Blue Diamond leaves with her Pearl. As they left, the blue Pearl's eye catches Pink Diamond's Rose Quartz by her door. She must have listened in as her face showed deep concern.

* * *

Five-hundred more years passed. All the natural plantation around the base had died, excluding Pink Diamond's cherry blossom. Whenever her Diamond relieved her from duty, Blue would sit by the tree and think to herself; there was something about the cherry blossom the calmed her anxieties and inspired creativity. Pink Diamond gave her sister one of the seeds of the tree, which Blue kept within her pearl gemstone for safe keeping.

Pink Diamond was still setting up kindergartens across the planet, giving life to new Gems. The Twins and Padparadscha still remained themselves, and the addition of new Gems to the Court has eased the stress of performing their jobs. Pink Diamond's Pearl stayed the same as she's always been, but after getting to know her Blue began spending more time with her fellow Pearl; enjoying the moments together when the chance was given. Even though Blue and Pinks Courts are enjoying the calm life of the Earth colony; there is one Gem, however, who was unable to take as much pleasure in it as she wanted to. Rose Quartz.

Rose's desire to preserve life, Gem and organic, was equal to that of Pink Diamonds; humans and animals continued living on this planet alongside Gems; some would keep to themselves and not involve themselves with the alien beings, others saw the Diamonds as goddesses, worshiping them like Pink had predicted. The humans showed no hostility to the Gems, that's not worried Rose; what worried her was that Yellow Diamond would make good on her threat sometime in the future.

Pink Diamond has spoken to Yellow Diamond about the colony and to let her run it the way she wishes. However, Yellow is not one to back down, and the worst-case scenario would involve an armada of the militant monarch's ships arriving on this planet. Pink Diamond was a great leader, but she lacked any form of military experience, and would be unable to fight back. Rose has expressed this concern to her Diamond, but Pink's over-positivity and newly gained pride from her time here has her disregarding her Imperial's pleas. This mixture of arrogance and optimism has her believing everything will work out for the better and is making bad judgment calls because of it; eventually, this will lead to the end of all organic life on this planet.

* * *

Blue sat by Pink Diamonds cherry blossom, enjoying the serenity of the area. Gems from both Pink Diamonds and Blue Diamond Court were enjoying this peace as well. Holly Blue Agate and other Quartz soldiers were more relaxed than usual, the Rutile Twins and Padparadscha began interacting with more of Blue Diamonds Court. The only Gem who was not around here was Rose Quartz. She left for an assignment seven months ago, which to a Gem is not that long, but Rose is someone who would love this peace; the biggest question on both Court's minds is where Pink Diamonds Imperial is.

"Pearl." Blue Diamond calls to her Pearl who looks up at the azure monarch.

Blue gets up from the ground and bows. "Yes, my Diamond?"

"I would like to speak to you for a moment."

"Of course, my Diamond."

"Follow me." Blue Diamond led Pearl to a secluded area of the base to speak with her Pearl in private. "Pearl, you are aware of the tension currently going on between my sisters, correct?"

"Yes, my Diamond."

"What do you think of the organic beings on this planet? I want your truly honest opinion."

Blue was surprised that her Diamond wanted to ask for her opinion. She would usually expect something like this from Pink Diamond, but not Blue Diamond. The Pearl decided to answer the question as honestly as she could. "Well, they are… different. They may not be anything special in the eyes of Gems, but their creativity is astounding, structures, art… I would never in my existence believe that organics were capable of great beauty. But they have primitiveness to them that cannot be ignored, one that can put the unwise in danger… if I'm to be honest, my Diamond… I don't really know how I should feel about them. Why do you ask?"

"Because Pink loves them, despite all their flaws. She sees something in them that I and Yellow Diamond cannot; she believes they should be spared from extinction."

"I know that your sister, Yellow Diamond, wishes to uphold the Authorities laws of dealing with the organics; threatening to take the colony in the process."

"Yes, and I have chosen to side myself with Pink."

Blue was surprised by what she had heard; her Diamond was usually one to side with the Authority, when it came to matters involving organics. "I was not expecting to hear that."

"My Pearl. You are one of my most loyal subjects, you've always been there for me. I've sided with my baby sister and will stay true to my decision, but this choice will affect not only her and me but all the Gems of both Courts. If we win, Pink may run her colony the way she wishes. But if we lose, Yellow will claim the planet and we'll all be disgraced. This will affect the Court's entire future."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because when Yellow does make good on her threat, and when diplomacy fails; there will be fighting. Many Gems on both sides will die, that is why I wish to present you this opportunity, that you may never get another chance at."

"You're asking if I'll stay loyal to the end, or defect to another court."

"I will not punish you if you choose the latter, the choice is yours and yours alone to make."

Blue stayed quiet after what her Diamond had said, some of Pink Diamond's beliefs must have rubbed off on her. Blue Diamond was right, however, when it came to Yellow Diamond, violence always follows when talks of peace do not go as planned. After serving her Diamond for as long as she could remember, Blue was offered a choice to save herself if the worst were to happen. Blue has been with her Diamond throughout most of the known universe, establishing colonies in the Court's name. After a moment of silence, the Pearl turned to her Diamond; giving her answer. "I... I am your Pearl, forever and always. And you are my Diamond. I will not leave you. That is my decision."

Blue Diamond gave her Pearl a faint smile, with small tears forming in her eyes. "Thank you, my Pearl." Blue Diamond extended her giant hand to the small Gem, who clasped the pinky finger gratefully showing her allegiance.

"My Diamond!" One of two Amethysts of Blue Diamond's Court shout. "My Diamond! We've found you. We have urgent news!"

"What is it? Blue Diamond turns to the two soldiers.

"We received a report that one of Pink Diamond's bases in the southern sector has been attacked!"

"What!" This news shocked the monarch.

"An entire base filled at least three hundred soldiers, a mixture of yours and hers have all been poofed, and the base has been demolished. No one has been shattered, however.

"How did this happen, who is responsible for this?"

"According to the reports, the base was attacked by Pink Diamond's Imperial! They were attacked by Rose Quartz!"


	8. Chapter 8: Diamonds and Pearls Part 2

One-thousand years. That is how long the civil war has been waged ever since Rose Quartz rebelled against the Authority. This act of defiance has given rise to Gems of both Blue Diamond's and Pink Diamond's Court's defecting over to the rebellious faction; known as the Crystal Gems. Whether it was out of hidden hatred for their Diamond, respect for her Imperial status, or friendship; Rose Quartz has gained many followers of her cause, including but not limited to Blue Diamond's own Garnet, a Lapis Lazuli and a Bismuth.

As the war raged, new kindergartens had to be established to produce more fighting Gems through any means necessary. As more Gems continued to die on both sides for what they believe in; there have been many debates about contacting Yellow Diamond and ending all of this with one strike. But Pink Diamond's pride will not allow her to admit defeat to someone who threatened to take her colony from her years ago.

After a while, the war was fought to a stalemate; large-scale conflicts have been reduced, and preventing enormous amounts of death on both sides, resulting in a ceasefire. But it is only a matter of time before the real fighting begins again, and both the Crystal Gems and Homeworld Gems are prepared.

* * *

Blue sat by Pink Diamond's cherry blossom, thinking to herself about all the Gems who have gone into battle; Gems she has met with daily, step outside on to the battlefield, and only half of them come back. She and many other Gems knew it would be only a matter of time before the killing resumed.

"Back off Agate!" A gruff voice sounded from the hall, catching the Pearls attention.

Two Gems stood in front of each other, an Agate and a Jasper, both looking prepared for a fight. Behind the Jasper were the Rutile Twins, who appear to be hiding behind the Quartz.

"How dare you speak to a superior Gem like that, you filthy Earth-born!" Blue recognized the voice from one of the Gems; it was her own Court's Holly Blue Agate.

"What the Gems under my Diamond's Court do is none of your damn business!" There was only one Gem that ever talked to Holly Blue that way: Pink Diamond's Jasper from the Beta Kindergarten; also referred to as the Ultimate Quartz and Pink Diamond's current Imperial. This Jasper was larger than normal Quartzes, even taller than an Agate, and she is a monster in combat; many Crystal Gems have been shattered by her in battle, and she did not even have to summon her weapon to do so. But despite her harsh attitude and intimidating physique, Jasper has a deep concern for the Gems under her Diamond and will go to great lengths to protect them.

"Gems like them shouldn't even be allowed to exist. All defects should be harvested and made into proper Gems!"

"That is not for you to decide. Why don't you yell at your own Gems instead!"

"Because this abomination of a Rutile is unable to follow even the simplest of orders!"

"She's been through enough and doesn't need you to add to her problems, this war has taken plenty away from all of us! My Diamond's and your Diamond's Quartzes are out on the battlefield every day ever since the rebellion started; while you just bark orders and berate us when we don't live up to your expectations!"

The Twins and Blue slowly back up, both realizing what a fight between these two will do to the surrounding area; recognizing the tones of both Gems voices, they knew a fight was going to break out.

"What is the meaning of this!" Blue Diamond shouts garnering the attention of all the Gems in the area, as she walks down the hall with Pink Diamond by her side.

"My Diamond." Blue, Jasper, the Twins and Holly Blue turn to their respected Diamonds and bowed.

"You two. Explain yourselves, now." Pink Diamond demands from the Quartz and Agate.

"Well, you see, My Diamond." Holly Blue stepped forward. "My beautiful, lustrous, shining…"

"Get to the point, Agate." Blue Diamond rose her voice, irritated by the unneeded bootlicking.

"Oh… of c... c-course…" Holly Blue stuttered with an awkward smile, before regaining her composure. "I was simply giving orders to this Rutile, to go out and scout the area, and they refused to obey the commands of their superior. So, I was going to discipline them when this brute here, assaulted me." Holly Blue turns to Jasper with an accusing glare.

"You have a humorous idea of what you label as 'discipline'..." Jasper quietly said to herself.

"All right then." Pink Diamond turns her attention to Jasper. "Now, my Jasper, what is your side of the story?"

"Her side… isn't my story truthful e…" Holly Blue spoke up but was silenced by Blue Diamond's glare.

"You will silence yourself, Agate!"

Holly Blue steps back terrified, giving her Diamond a defeated bow, as Jasper began. "Holly Blue was abusing her authority. By the time I arrived, she had been assaulting them verbally; they've been on plenty of scouting missions and seen what's out there, unlike some Gems. And I did challenge her authority, yes… I know it's no excuse to break out into a fight, but I wasn't going to let a Gem of my Diamond Court be abused like this."

Blue Diamond turned to her Pearl and the Rutile Twins. "You two are the only witnesses before we arrived; do the claims of my sisters Jasper match perfectly with what had occurred?"

"Yes, my Diamond," Blue says honestly and respectfully with a bow.

"Yes, your grace." The Twins responded in the same manner.

Blue Diamond returns her attention to Holly Blue, glaring at her with irritation. "You were out of line. You are to concern yourself with my Gems, no one else! Do I make myself clear?"

"Y-yes… My Diamond." The Agate answers nervously.

"As for you Jasper." Pink Diamond turned to her Quartz. "We'll have our own discussion about your behavior later. While everything is at peace now, no one, not even a Sapphire can predict how long it will last. And when the fighting does start back up, we can't afford to have our own Gems fighting each other."

"I understand, my Diamond."

"Good. Now I want you to take the Twins to their cubby; I'll send some Peridots to give them a psychological evaluation, and see when will be the right time to get them back out there."

Blue Diamond looked at the Gems, assuring they understood their Diamonds orders. "You are all dismissed."

Jasper and Holly Blue bow to their Diamond before going their own separate ways; as Jasper takes the Rutile Twins to their cubby, a temporary resting place for Gems during colonization missions. Pink Diamond and Blue Diamond watch as their Gems leave, before continuing down the hallway.

Blue sighed to herself, ever since Rose Quartz, a Gem from Pink Diamond's Court defected and started the rebellion; tensions have been high between them and the Gems of Blue Diamond. There have been several instances of fighting almost breaking out between Gems of both courts, and Jasper's and Holly Blue's current attempt at a brawl is just going to make things worse.

"Something troubling you, dear?" A slow, elderly voice asked. Blue turns and sees Fluorite approach her. Fluorite is a Six-Gem forced-fusion created in one of Pink Diamond's experimental kindergartens, in the hopes of creating force-fused Gem warriors to battle against Rose's rebels. Fluorite is the only recorded success amongst four-thousand-three-hundred-ninety-one trials. However, due to the number of Gems fused within her, her physical form had to change to stably hold her together; resulting in a caterpillar-like body that is not built for fighting; even though she is unable to fight, she makes up for it by giving words of wisdom. Due to her good sense of insight, Pink Diamond has made Fluorite her main advisor; but she also shares her wisdom with other Gems she believes are in need of it.

"Oh, greetings Fluorite." Blue bows her head respectfully.

"Now, now, there is no need for that. Especially for an old Gem like me." Fluorite giggled. Despite her elderly appearance, Fluorite is one of the youngest Gems in Pink Diamond's Court, due to her late creation.

"You are my Diamond's advisor, you deserve as much respect." The Pearl says honestly to the fusion.

"But I don't need any praising, passing along my intuition is enough to bring me contentment." The large Gems smiles. "But you don't look to be at peace, is there anything I can help you with?"

Blue sighs before looking up at Fluorite. "I am… growing uncomfortable with the growing hostility between our once cooperative Courts."

"It is troubling indeed. These are frustrating times… and most would find it easier to blame the Gems that once saw Rose Quartz as a sister-in-arms to vent their aggravations."

"But I can't just be the only one to notice that we're on verge of starting another fight." Blue wrapped her arms around herself, trying to remain calm. "If the rebellion isn't… ended soon, I'm worried that tensions will grow to the point where my Diamond's Gems will be shattering your Diamond's Gems, and vice versa. And when Yellow Diamond does come to Earth… all forms of civility will be gone, and this planet will just be nothing but a chaotic field of death. And it scares me more than anything right now."

"It is normal to be afraid of the future. Many Gems share your worry, but some would rather hide it than confront it. The future is unpredictable, even to Gems who can see into it. But those who continue to look into the future, instead of what is right in front of them now, are the ones who will always live in fear. Have faith, that things will get better." Fluorite places one of her large hands on Blue's shoulder.

"Fluorite!" An Amethyst shouted as she ran down the halls with great urgency. She stopped in front of the Six-Gem fusion and the Pearl. "Fluorite. Do you know where your Diamond or my Diamond is?"

"They passed down the hallway from last I checked. Why do you ask?" Fluorite asks, concerned about the Quartzes urgent running.

"Our scouts have reported back, they've spotted Rose Quartz and her army heading towards us. The ceasefire has ended."

* * *

"If this data is correct, Rose will be here within thirty Earth days." Pink Diamond states, looking at a holographic map within her throne room, alongside Blue Diamond and other trusted Gems of the Courts: Blue, Pink Pearl, Fluorite, Jasper and Holly Blue Agate. With tensions still high between the latter Gems.

"And from what is said, this army has the potential to drives us off Earth." Blue Diamond states. "Rose recovered quicker than we anticipated."

"She's tenacious, I'll give her that much." Holly Blue adds in. "But she is nothing compared to a Diamond."

"She's not to be underestimated, Agate. She is far more capable than any Quartz I've ever fought alongside with or against. And is truly more capable than any of the ones you command." Jasper adds in lastly with the sole purpose of aggravating her, successfully getting an annoyed glare from Holly Blue.

"Though the insult was unneeded, your Jasper is right about Rose's military expertise." Blue Diamond admits to her sister. "But she is not just their leader, she's their symbol. Once she falls, the Gems under command will have no leader; without her, they'll collapse into anarchy. Leaving only a matter of time before we crush what remains."

"You make it sound like it's an easy matter." Pink Diamond responds back to Blue Diamond.

"Yes, but it's far from it. However, Rose lacks the numbers for a direct assault; she knows that with the current state of our forces as well, we will easily crush them. Her most likely move would be to divide our forces. Her specialty does revolve around using the environment to her advantage."

"So even with lesser numbers, she would be able to dominate us."

"That is correct."

Jasper growls lowly to herself, catching Blue and Pink Pearls attention. The mighty Quartz was all too familiar with Rose's strategy, and how many loyal soldiers fell to it.

"She'll be setting ambushes up for us, so we have to set one up for them in return." Blue Diamond further states.

"And I take it that you have an idea on how to do that?" Pink Diamond asks her sister.

"Yes, but it will require the cooperation our Imperials."

Jasper looks up at Blue Diamond with a confused expression. "With respect, your grace. May I ask why?"

"How dare you question the strategy of a Diamond." Holly Blue bites at Jasper "Especially one such as…"

"It would be wise of you to shut your mouth, Holly Blue!" Blue Diamond berates the Agate, making her step back in fear. "Now to answer your question, Jasper. As you all know, Homeworld customs state that Imperials are to remain by their Diamond's side no matter what; but if one must be sent on an errand, another is to take her place as a guard for that time. We send our Imperials with a squad of soldiers to be ambushed by the enemy. Our Imperials are the best of the best; they'll be able to handle whatever Rose throws at them. While our other high-ranking soldiers will remain here at the base, ready to handle any oncoming assault. Rose isn't one to hide behind her forces and would be on the front lines with the rest of her soldiers. That is when we take the opportunity to shatter her."

"And you have faith that this will work." Pink Diamond asks her sister.

"I know this will work. But if it will put your mind at ease, I will consult it with some of my Sapphires."

"It is good we received this information when we did, my Diamond. This will give us the time we need to prepare." Holly Blue states.

"All of you do what you have to prepare. The war ends here." Blue Diamond dismisses everyone in the room. The Gems giving bows to their respected Diamonds before departing.

Jasper, Holly Blue, and Fluorite exit the room; with Blue Diamond and her Pearl following behind. "Sister, may I have a moment?" Pink Diamond asks before Blue Diamond and her Pearl left.

"Please make it quick, I must consult with my Sapphires to see if our strategy will remain flawless." Blue Diamond informs.

"While our soldiers are out on the battlefield, where will we be?

"We will be by the ship. If this fails we'll be forced off Earth or shattered; on the off chance we are defeated, I won't accept the latter option."

"You can't be serious." Pink Diamond responded with surprise in her tone. "Gems who have sworn their very lives to us; ever since they popped out of the ground are being sent to the front lines of a battle they may never be coming back from, and you want to abandon them if things go south."

"They fully knew what serving their Diamond would entail and will make the necessary sacrifice for the Authority."

"No! This is the final stand. We should be fighting with them."

"Pink, I know you have a connection with your Gems, just as I have a connection with mine. But we are Diamonds. We are irreplaceable. If anything happens to us, all our Gems suffer. As cruel as this may sound, it's better for all if our Gems die instead."

"But that's not right. Blue I'm a strong leader; I can be out there with them, help them if I…"

"I'm not questioning your leadership Pink, I'm questioning your maturity. After all these years, you still let your emotions overpower reason. It's because of that you can't go out there, if something happens that gets you emotional, it can cause everything to spiral into chaos. And we cannot afford something like that."

"But…"

"That's enough! As your sister, I'm asking you to not go out there."

Pink Diamond remains silent, turning her head away from Blue Diamond, as she left the room with frustrated feelings; her Pearl staying close to her side.

Blue Diamond let out a sigh as she saw her sister leave. "Let's go Pearl." Blue Diamond instructs as she and Blue leave the empty room last.

* * *

Only ten days remain until Rose's army arrives. Holly Blue and Jasper have the Gems of their respect Courts working harder than ever. Quartz and Ruby soldiers being pushed to their limits in the training grounds. Peridots working tirelessly to make sure all the security measures are in place and will work accordingly. Rutiles sent scouting ahead, bringing back status updates to their superiors. Lapis Lazuli's ordered to terraform the area to set up traps. And Sapphires calculating every single outcome that can and will play out during the conflict. During all of this, a certain Pearl of Pink Diamond's Court is discussing her worries about her Diamond, to Blue.

"I've never seen you this worried before if I'm being honest," Blue tells her fellow Pearl. "You're not as unbelievably cheery as you used to be when we first arrived on Earth."

"It's because I am scared for her." The pink Pearl admits. "I love and respect my Diamond, whatever her decision, but risking her life like she is planning to; that is something I cannot stand by."

"And my Diamond won't allow that, you can trust her that much."

"I know, but I still worry, nonetheless."

"It is natural for Gems like us to worry about our Diamonds. It is nothing to be ashamed of." Blue places her hand on Pink Pearl's shoulders, hoping to ease her anxieties.

"Though, I am curious. What do you think will happen, when this is all over?" Pink Pearl asks.

"I don't know," Blue responds honestly. "We know the terraforming of the planet will continue the way your Diamond wants it to. Yellow Diamond may pose a problem, but I strongly believe she can be handled when the time comes." Blue places her hand onto her gemstone, materializing an object she stored within. A seed. "This is a seed your Diamond gave to my Diamond a long time ago. Once this all has ended, we're going to find a proper place of un-terraformed soil to plant this." Blue looks up at the other Pearl. "What are your plans after this?"

"I guess it would be the same routines for us Pearls; continuing to serve our Diamonds. But there will be one benefit that will be different."

"Like what, if I may ask?"

"No one else knows this except my Diamond, but whenever I am off duty, I spend my free time with certain Ruby." Pink Pearl said to Blue in a manner that gave her an idea of what she means.

"Really?" Blue asks with a slight blush.

"Yes, and she's the cutest little red Gem that you'll ever meet."

"You should introduce me to here when everything is at peace again."

"Pearl." The quiet voice of Blue Diamond calls from behind. "I need to speak with you."

"Of course, my Diamond." Blue quickly stands up, and bows to her fellow Pearl before departing.

* * *

Blue Diamond took her Pearl to the confines of her private chambers on her ship. No other Gem, not even the other Diamonds had access to this area without Blue Diamond's permission; whatever she wished to discuss with her Pearl, she wanted to make sure it remained private.

"Is something troubling you, my Diamond?" Blue asked the monarch.

Blue Diamond did not answer right away, after a moment of silence she responded to her Pearls question. "No… nothing is wrong… I just wish to speak to you about something."

"What would like to say?"

"I… spoke... with the Sapphires about what would happen during the battle…"

"Do we win?" Blue asked nervously.

"Y… yes, we win." The massive monarch answers with a small smile, her voice sounding somewhat shaken.

Blue would have liked to cheer upon hearing this news, but she had a feeling there is something more going on. "But something happens?"

Blue Diamond answers her Pearls question with silence, before speaking up. "But the Sapphires have foreseen… a way to prevent what I fear will happen. Which is why I am asking this of you for when the time comes; on the day of the battle, you are to lock yourself in this room, and no matter hear you are not to leave. And that is an order."

Upon hearing that this is a direct order from her Diamond, Blue's suspicions have been confirmed; something will happen on the battlefield, and from the way her Diamond is acting, it is something terrible. But she did not say a word, an order from a Diamond was absolute and to never be questioned. "Very well, my Diamond." Was all Blue could say as she gave a respectful bow.

"I am glad to have you as my Pearl." Blue Diamond says to the slim Gem looking down with a faint smile.

"And I to have you as my Diamond." Blue gives her Diamond another bow before the matriarch dismisses her.

* * *

Rose's army has arrived, and the final battle for the planet began. Blue, under her Diamond's orders, locked herself within Blue Diamond's chambers and waited until the fighting stopped. Blue just sat down on the nearest chair; twiddling her thumbs with deep concern on her face as she tried her hardest to block out the sounds of clashing metal, explosions and screaming of orders. Despite the room being soundproof, it could not block out those vile sounds.

A muffled "Get down!" could be heard as a large explosion goes off and shakes the entire room, nearly knocking over a vase that Blue Diamond's finest artisans had crafted for her. The solitary confinement with all those horrible sounds in the distance brought unease to the Pearl; she thought to herself if she stays in this room any longer, she will go mad. But she will not disobey her Diamond, so she remains in the chamber; clasping her hands over her ears, attempting block out the noise.

Blue wanted to break down and cry, she wanted to weep for the loss of life ever since this war started; Gems where dying for what they believed in, Gems she knew where now being reduced to shards. But Blue did not, she wanted to remain strong all the way through; her Diamond had a plan. She knows it, and it will succeed.

But Blue knew something was not right, her Diamond ordering her confinement within these chambers, and what she said before dismissing her. The Pearl clenched the gemstone embedded in her chest tightly. She had a dark feeling; something was going to happen on that battlefield, that Blue Diamond will participate in and change the Authority forever.

Blue had made her decision, for the first time in her service to Blue Diamond, she is going to disobey her orders. Blue ran over to the rooms door, and unlocks it; she peeked out to make sure there were not any guards to detain her, as she ran out to the battlefield.

* * *

Like the Pearl had suspected, it was absolute chaos outside. Amethysts versus Amethysts, Jaspers versus Jaspers, gigantic fusions wrestling each other for control. It was horrifying anarchy.

Blue saw her Diamond's palanquin out in the distance, in the middle of all of this. She took her first step off the ship and as soon as her feet touched the ground, she ran out into the battlefield as fast as she could. She dodged the attacks from the soldiers as best as she could, stumbling only a few times whenever an explosion went off. As she ran; she avoided the slashes, smashes, and stabs of many weapons that Blue could not name as of now. Her physical form came close to poofing several times as she continued to make her way through all of this; but was lucky only enough to receive a few cuts and bruises; Pearls are fragile, which is why they are not allowed on the battlefield, and not being shattered right now is nothing short of a miracle.

Blue almost reached the palanquin when a blue wave of energy erupted from it, knocking everything around it onto the ground, including the Pearl. When Blue sat back up, she discovered there were tears in her eyes; as she looked around, all the warriors of the Crystal Gems and Homeworld had tears in their eyes as well. The only thing the could cause this was Blue Diamond's power, her pathokinesis; a power that can only be unleashed upon feeling raw, uncontrollable emotion.

Now worried more than ever, Blue got up off the ground and scurried to the entrance of the palanquin. Upon arriving her eyes widened with shock as she saw her Diamond on the ground, in pain with large cracks around her gemstone. The tears well up even more as she looks on with pure horror and sadness. "NO!" Blue screamed as she ran over to the azure monarch who she had served all her life; kneeling before her as she laid dying on the floor of the palanquin. "M-my Diamond! My Diamond!" The Pearl continued to scream. "Help! Someone! Anyone! Help Me!"

Blue Diamond weakly looked up at her Pearl, her physical form glitching at a rapid pace as the cracks spread. "My… Pearl…"

"Help!"

Blue Diamond reaches for Blue, placing her index finger on the Pearls tear covered cheek. Tears roll down from Blue Diamonds eyes as she looks at her Pearl one last time. Before she could even say anything, a bright cobalt light fills the room as Blue Diamonds physical form disappears, only leaving the shattered fragments her gemstone behind.

The Pearl just sat there in despair as she saw her Diamond die right before her. "No…" Blue continues staring as tears continue pouring, her hands tremble as she continues to cry out. "MY DIAMOND!"

* * *

"My Diamond!" Blue screams as she quickly sits upwards, shaking. She looks around and realizes she is sitting on the couch back at the house, alone without Steven, Garnet or Carnelian anywhere.

She looked down and noticed that her physical form was different. She had a leotard a lot like her old Homeworld attire, but with a yellow star in the center and no knee length skirt. She had semi-translucent blue leggings, sea-green boots that went up to her knees, blue elbow-length gloves and a sea-green sash around her waist. Her hair was cut to the point where the bangs the left side of her face were gone, leaving her left eye exposed.

Blue's hands were trembling; she placed them over her mouth trying to keep her sorrow in after re-experiencing a memory she thought to have kept buried within her past. She silently let her emotions out as she processed everything that happened within that nightmare. After quietly sobbing for a moment, she looked around the room and saw that there was no broken glass anywhere when they first left for the Kindergarten; which begs the question in her mind: how long was she out?


	9. Chapter 9: I'm Still Here

Steven opens the front door to the house as he, Connie and Carnelian enter, continuing their conversations. "… yeah, Garnet is still searching for Lapis. And we…" Steven stops mid-sentence upon the three of them seeing a newly reformed Blue sitting on the couch with a different appearance. "Blue!" Steven runs over to the Pearl with tears in his eye, almost tackling the slim Gem to the ground with his hug. Carnelian spin dashes towards her and nearly does the same. "We were all worried about you, it's been so long… and… and we thought..."

"It's okay Steven. I'm here." Blue rubs the boys head, with slight tears in her own eyes, trying her best to calm him. "I'm sorry I worried you, I shouldn't have tried to fight Jasper like..."

"It's okay, I'm just glad you're back."

The three Gems continue their group hug for a few more seconds, before breaking from it.

"Nice clothes." Carnelian pitches in, rubbing the tears from her eyes. "They look good on you."

"Oh… thank you." Blue accepts the compliment with a small smile.

"I'm glad you are all right, Miss Blue," Connie says to the Pearl, walking over to her. Connie looked a lot different now compared to when she and Blue first met. She had her hair cut from long, puffy hair to a cute bob cut, and had her glasses replaced with some contact lenses.

"I appreciate the concern," Blue responds returning her own smile at the young girl. "And you... look well yourself. Your new look suits you."

"Oh, thank you," Connie says with a soft smile. "I wanted to change up my look but didn't have the time or money to go to a barber. So, I had it cut myself. When my parents saw, my Mom bombarded me with questions about it, and my Dad thought I was just trying to get a boy's attention." She adds lastly, blushing slightly with some embarrassment.

Carnelian leans over to Blue, with a mischievous grin on her face. "And you should've seen Steven's reaction, it caught him completely off guard and he almost died on his feet for a moment."

"Oh, come on, she looked pretty," Steven responds defensively with a deep scarlet blush.

Blue giggles to herself a bit, aware of Stevens feelings towards the young human girl. She looked around the area and now noticed Garnet was not with them. "Where's Garnet?"

"Oh, Boss is out on a mission," Carnelian answered. "She's been going on a bunch of missions on her own lately, ever since you were poofed?"

"What happened with Jasper and Peridot?" Blue asks the two Crystal Gems.

"They got away with Lapis. And we… almost lost you for good." Carnelian states trying to hide her worry. "We were able to escape thanks to Lion."

"Apparently, he can teleport," Steven adds in.

"And how long was I out for?" Blue asks.

Steven and Carnelian look at each other for a moment, then turned back to her with Steven answering. "About two weeks."

"What!" The Pearl shouts with disbelief. "I've been out for that long!"

Carnelian gives her a confirming nod. "Steven wanted to wait for you to reform, be there to greet you when you wake up you know. He had been worrying about you non-stop; but around day four, me, Connie and Greg decided to get him out of the house."

"I understand," Blue states, knowing it was unhealthy for Steven to put her well-being over his own.

"And are you doing okay?" Carnelian asks her.

"What… what do you mean?"

"I mean Gems usually don't take that long to reform. Well from my experience at least." The red Quartz admits, with a slight blush of embarrassment. Though she is not as reckless anymore, Carnelian would usually be the one to poof the most during her first missions when Rose was still with them. "But anyway, you've been poofed before and its never taken you this long to reform, which is why I have to ask… was it the things Jasper said? And what did she mean by them?"

Blue turned her head away from the small Quartz, hearing Jaspers words in her head, she wanted to tell the both them the truth; but after what she was forced to relive, she was afraid to give them the answers they seek. "I'd… I'd rather not talk about that right now."

"Oh okay, Garnet said you should be the tell us anyway, but when you're ready," Steven says with a supporting tone.

Blue smiles at the boy gratefully as she slowly stands up of the couch; with Steven, Carnelian, and Connie giving her room to move freely. She stretched her arms and legs to get used to her new similar yet different body. "Right, now if you'll excuse me, there is something I need to take care of." The Pearl says walking over to the warp pad.

"Don't you think you should take things slowly?" Carnelian asks. "You did just get back."

"If you're worried about me, you don't have to. It's just… just something I have to attend to." The Pearl says reassuringly, standing on the warp pad as the cyan energy teleports her elsewhere.

"Is it me or does something seem off about her?" Carnelian asks, turning to the two kids.

"I think she's just trying to adjust to her current situation," Connie suggests.

"Maybe… it's… I just feel like she's hiding something from us."

"Whatever is bothering Blue, she'll tell us when she's ready." Steven tries assuring but was also feeling like something was off as well.

* * *

The next day, Steven and Carnelian were sitting on the couch, finishing up some breakfast Blue had made for them. Scrambled eggs, bacon, and waffles all made from scratch. Blue was good at many things, but cooking was not one of them. Since she does not eat like Steven or Carnelian, she did not know if she added too many, or too little spices. Or if she overcooked or undercooked something. Or ended up putting the wrong ingredients by accident. But the two of them did not mind really; in fact, they were kind of missing her cooking for a while.

Garnet was peaceful meditating on the floor next to them, remaining as still as a statue. After she had returned from her mission, Steven and Carnelian updated her on Blue's status. Garnet asked the two of them where Blue was, and they told her what happened. Later that night, before Steven went to bed, Blue returned where she and Garnet had a private talk. As for the Pearl, she left a note for them:

"Dear Steven, Carnelian, and Garnet. – Sorry for the inconvenience, but I still have something to take care of, so I'll be gone for the day today. However, I'll be home before Steven goes to bed tonight. – Sincerely, Blue."

This made Carnelian even more suspicious of Blue, and Steven a bit concerned about his guardian; especially since Blue would be someone who would tell him she was leaving for the day in person.

"She should be here right… now." Garnet informs Steven with her future vision, as he and Carnelian hear a knock on the door a second after the tall Gem said 'now.'

"Thanks, Garnet," Steven says to his guardian as he hops off the couch, and walks over to the entrance.

Steven and Carnelian were going to hang out with Connie some more today and treat her to the Big Donut. After learning Connie's parents do not let her have food like doughnuts, Carnelian declared that must be remedied as soon as possible. She is even bringing a camera Greg owned to capture her reaction.

"Hey, Connie," Steven says to his friend, opening the door politely.

"Hey, Steven." Connie greets him with a nod. She looks in the house and greets the scarlet Gem on the couch with a nod as well. "Hey, Carnelian."

"Sup kid." Carnelian greets her back, as she stuffs the rest of her eggs into her mouth and gulps them down with ease. "So, are you ready to taste the greatest food in all of human history?"

"Kind of," Connie says a bit nervously, rubbing the back of her head. "I'm just not sure. If my parents find out…"

"Don't worry. Steven and I will cover for you," Carnelian assures her, hopping off the couch and hurries out the door. "Now come on, they are the freshest this early in the morning."

"You three have fun." Garnet wishes to the group as the door closes.

* * *

"After you." Steven politely says to Connie, holding the door to the Big Donut open for her.

"Oh, thank you," Connie responds appreciatively at Stevens kindness, walking into the establishment, with Carnelian following behind her.

The blonde haired young woman behind the shops counter looks up and notices Steven and his Gem sister. "Steven. Carnelian. Haven't seen you two here in a while."

"Hi, Sadie." Steven greets the cashier woman, with Carnelian just saying "Sup."

Sadie looks over and notices Connie with the two of them. "Who's your friend? I've never seen her here before."

"I'm Connie Maheswaran. It's nice to meet you." The young girl introduces herself. To which Sadie gives her a friendly smile and nods back.

"Hey, where's Lars at?" Steven asks.

"He's called in sick today, really nasty sounding cold." Sadie answers. "So, what can I get for you guys?"

"A dozen of your fresh baked doughnuts, please." Steven requests.

Sadie reaches into the doughnut case and takes out twelve random doughnuts, carefully placing them in a light, cardboard box. "That will be eight, ninety-nine."

Steven takes out a ten-dollar bill from his back pocket and gives it to the young woman.

"Thank you, I hope the three of you enjoy."

"Thanks Sadie, and bye." Steven gratefully says taking the box with both hands, as he, Carnelian and Connie exit the establishment.

* * *

The three of them find a bench near the beach to sit on, with Steven opening the box, offering the assortment of pastries to Connie. "Take anyone you'd like."

Connie looked inside the box and decides to take one with chocolate frosting. She opens her mouth to take a bite when Carnelian stops her.

"Hold on," Carnelian says getting the camera ready.

"Is this really necessary?" Connie asked the scarlet Gem.

"You've never had a doughnut before, your reaction is going to be priceless."

Connie just shrugs as she resumes taking her first bite, she chomps down on the pastry, and her eyes lighted up as bright as stars. "Oh my gosh, this is delicious."

Carnelian took a snapshot as soon as she said those three words. "I told you it was the greatest food in all of human history."

Connie swallows down the food, before speaking. "Well, I wouldn't go as far as calling it that. But it was good, better than I expected honestly."

Steven takes two donuts with pink frosting on them from the box. "I'm glad you liked them. If you want another one, I recommend taking it now, or Carnelian will eat the whole box."

"I'm good, thanks."

"Well, more for me then," Carnelian says with a grin; taking a random donut and scarfing it down like it was a breath mint.

"So, how has Miss Blue been since I last saw her?" Connie asks Steven.

"I think she's doing okay," Steven answers, with some uncertainty in his tone.

Carnelian gulps down her third donut. "Blue hasn't been at the house since yesterday, and she's been doing some stuff out of the ordinary for her. Boss said she should be the one to tell us what's bothering her, but she doesn't want to talk to us about it."

"But I don't think we should push her into telling us something she doesn't want to," Steven says to his Quartz sister.

"Sometimes pushing is the best way, even if it doesn't feel right at first." Connie intervenes. "Whenever there is something bothering me, my parents get me to open up to them by asking what is wrong and just listen to what I need to say; even if I think they won't understand what I'm talking about. They push because they care about me, and don't judge, they just sit and listen to what I need to say. Maybe you can try the same with Miss Blue?"

"We could try giving her a push a shot," Carnelian speaks up. She had a feeling whatever Blue is trying to keep from them, she needs to tell them for her own well-being.

"Thanks for the suggestion Connie," Steven says to the young girl. "We'll try it tonight."

"No problem let me know how it goes."

* * *

After the day has gone by, Connie headed home for the night. With Steven and Carnelian doing the same. They returned to the beach house where they found Garnet in the same place they last saw her, still meditating. The tall Gem asked them how their day went, which they told her was nice.

Steven took care of everything he had to and got changed into his pajamas; he begged Garnet to let him stay up later so that he and Carnelian can ask Blue what is truly bothering her. She allowed it, and Steven and Carnelian waited in the living room for the Pearl, while Garnet continued her meditation.

A few hours past Stevens bedtime has gone by as he continued to stare at the warp pad, with still no sign of Blue. This started pushing the boy's concerns to their limit.

"She should've been back by now," Steven said aloud hopping off the couch and begins walking towards the cyan pad but stops. "I just wish I knew where she was."

Garnet lets out a sigh and stands herself up. All three of her eyes looking saddened towards the young half-gem. "She's in Korea."

"Korea," Steven says aloud with some surprise.

"What is she doing there? And Why?" Carnelian asked the tall Gem.

"It's a place important to Blue, and one she wanted to keep secret," Garnet answers with her eyes continuing to look down. "It's part of the matter Blue wanted to attend to alone."

"What matter?" Steven asks with concern. "Does this have to do with what Jasper said in the kindergarten?"

"I know Blue said she would tell us when she's ready, but I feel like we need to know what's going on," Carnelian says.

"I did tell you it was something only Blue should answer for you. I can take you to her, but don't disturb her until she is done."

"Done with what?" Carnelian asks but doesn't get an answer. Instead, Garnet just turns her back to the two Quartzes and signals for them to follow her. They both give each other unsure looks but follow the tall Gem onto the warp pad.

"You're going to find out." Garnet tells her, as the teleporter engulfs the group in cyan energy.

* * *

The group arrives in Korea, where it is currently daytime on this side of the world. They were in a vast green field with dozens of other warp pads surrounding the area, in the center of it was a dilapidated pink castle-like structure. On the front of the castle was a large symbol of four multi-colored diamonds making a larger one. A white on top, a blue and yellow to the left and right sides and a pink on the bottom. Far off to the left from it was a large, fully grown cherry blossom tree like Blue's, but a lot older.

"I've been to plenty of strange Gem places, but never seen this before," Carnelian tells the other two Gems and herself.

"What is this place?" Steven asks the tall Gem curiously. Garnet does not answer his question and just leads the two of them to a bush a tenth of a mile away from where the warp pads where.

Steven and Carnelian look over the bush and see Blue on her knees before a large structure; it looked like a smaller version of the castle but was sky-blue in color. Her head was down in sadness before it. "I don't understand." They heard Blue say in a low voice. "After so long of being with the Crystal Gems, I still find myself coming here… to confide my feelings to a dilapidated structure. Why is it easier to talk to ghosts about this than my own family? I wonder if things would've been different if I refused your order from the start, instead of waiting? Would you still be alive, my Diamond?" Blue looks up at the structure, her eyes from her hair, and with tears. "Steven, Carnelian… I want to tell them the truth about you so badly, but I'm afraid of what they will think of me. I lost you overzealous obedience, and I lost Rose because I chose to hide my real feelings… I can't lose them because of a truth they're not ready for."

Steven and Carnelian continued watching from a distance, they now know that whoever this "Diamond" is, she was someone very important to Blue. As Steven looks on, he accidentally pushes a couple of branches aside; rustling the bush, which caught Blue's attention and revealed him and Carnelian.

"Steven? Carnelian?" Blue shouted.

"I'm sorry, we didn't mean to interrupt." Steven apologizes.

"How did you two find me?"

"I brought them here," Garnet reveals.

Blue's face tightened in frustration. "Why would you do that? No one was supposed to know about this, except me, you and Rose!"

"We asked Garnet to take us." Carnelian steps in. "We're worried about you Blue, please tell us what's going on."

"You two wouldn't understand."

"We won't understand if you don't help us," Steven says to her. "Blue, you have to tell us what's going on. Please, we only want to help."

"Steven, there are things I want to tell, but I'm scared you won't understand. That I'll lose you because of it. That you'll hate me."

"Blue. My Mom, Rose, trusted you along with Garnet and Carney to raise me. Nothing you say will ever make any of us hate you."

Blue looks at Carnelian, who stand by her brother's words, then to Garnet who nods in agreement. Blue closes her eyes and lets out sigh, she kneels to the two of them and prepares herself to tell them the truth they want to hear.

* * *

Blue had finished her story, the one she was forced to relive while reforming inside of her gemstone.

Multiple emotions where seen across Steven and Carnelians faces, everything Blue said was a lot to process, and she did not blame them for feeling that way.

"Did my Mom… kill Blue Diamond?" Steven asks, looking up at the Pearl with some sadness of his own.

"I do not know." Blue answers. "No one really knows how she was shattered and who had done it. I was angry with Rose for a long time; I blamed her for all my sorrow and I refused to be a part of anything that she was involved in. But despite my resistance, she never gave up on me; if she did, then I don't think I would have ever got the chance to be a part of the Crystal Gems, and know the both of you."

"When we heard you talking to that... palanquin thing. What did you mean by that Blue Diamond would probably still be alive if you disobeyed her order?" Carnelian asks.

"When Rose thought I needed it the most, she gave me this." Blue materializes a small, diamond-shaped object from her gemstone. "It had the answer to a question I so desperately wanted to know."

Blue presses the top of the device, which glows a bright blue before levitating a few inches off the Pearls palm, slowly rotating. "Pearl, if you are listening to this, then I am gone." Steven and Carnelian recognized that the voice sounded like Blue's favorite singer, Lisa Hannigan. "But then that also means Pink is alive, and I was right. When I went to see the Sapphires about the success of our plan… in all the outcomes they've shown me… Pink Diamond dies in the end. The only future they didn't see Pink die was a future where I took her place. I know you must be feeling confused, saddened, angry or even betrayed. And I do not blame you. I lied to you, one of the Gems I trusted my life with to save another. But the Sapphires also saw that in my death, your despair would not last forever; someone would find you, keep you safe, and bring you happiness. With that, I could confront the fate I have chosen. My Pearl, I have always loved you and nothing will ever change that, no matter what the future holds. Thank you, my friend… and goodbye." With those final words, the diamond-shaped recording device deactivates.

Small tears leaked from Blue's eyes, but she wipes them away. "She was right. I'm still here, and I did find happiness. But that does not mean I don't miss her every day. In fact, I wonder what she would think of me now?"

Steven and Carnelian look at Blue in silence for a moment, before wrapping their arms around her in a loving embrace. "Well, we think you're pretty great," Steven says aloud.

Blue hugs the brother and sister back, as Garnet walks over to comfort her as well. The four Crystal Gems just sat there for a while in each other's embrace.

* * *

Author Note: This chapter was getting way to long, so I had to cut out some content that didn't fit in. I'll take what I cut out and make it into a new future chapter, and I'll try to upload more often. But until then, I hope you all enjoyed.

I want to thank everyone for sticking with the story for this long, I really appreciate it.


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